The Secretary
by NAMANJAYDEN
Summary: The Administrator can't waste Miss Pauling's time with the little insignificant tasks at Teufort. So she hires another woman to assist in completing these tasks. What woman would take such a job? A desperate woman who has already gotten her hands dirty before. (Sniper/OC). T rating for now.
1. Chapter 1: The Mundane Things

**Welcome asshats. Enjoy my story. As you are all aware, it should take about 2-3 chapters for this story to really kick it into gear. So please, try to be patient and don't be an asshole like me - who just skim reads until they find a part that involves the shipping characters together. I promise you, I'll keep a 3:2 ratio of sniper/oc moments vs other moments. This chapter is the set up, I tried to keep it as brief as I could and there is a part where all of you will be like "Wait… that's…. oh no… this… this… why does it keep going… oh no… this… this is gonna be good." Read the whole thing and bask in its mediocre wonder!**

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"Hello. This is Jessie Mayfield. I'd like to request an interview for a job opening at your company. I'm applying for Secretary and Inventory Manager. I'm calling with a reference from Miss Pauling. I've mailed you my resume. Thank you for taking your time to assess me and I hope to speak with you again. Have a good d-" The upbeat recorded voice was cut off by an obnoxious beep as the Administrator pressed her slender finger against the delete button. The angular woman took a deep drag from her cigarette, ashes falling on the papers she was examining. Without taking her eyes off the woman's resume, she opened her mouth to question the smaller woman in the room. "Are you sure you want to vouch for this woman, Miss Pauling?"

"Yes. She is a trustworthy person with little to no family or friends. She's morally ambiguous and sane."

"Hmm." The Administrator was pleased to hear that. "And are you sure she is fit for this job?" Her eyes scanned over the woman's past careers: _Secretary for Appt. Core, Secretary for Black Widow Corp., Maid for Lorie's Cleaning Services. Additional Skills and Experience: six years' experience with Letter Software, First Aid certificate, Gun Safety Certificate, and approved Secretary's Certification._

"I can assure you, she is qualified and can handle what we give her."

The Administrator yanked her desk drawer open and filed away the woman's resume among the many other personal documents about the woman. "Tell her she's got an _interview._ Make sure she brings her things here, I don't need her to waste my time having to go back to collect her belongings."

"Of course." With that, Miss Pauling pulled out her blocky phone and walked out of the room as she made her call.

The lean woman, now alone in her office, sighed.

Jessie opened her eyes to see the change of environment that appeared outside the bus window. Not only did she notice that, but she also noticed the oil mark her face left on the glass. Embarrassed, she attempted to wipe off the smudge with her fitted sleeve. After adjusting in her seat she finally stopped to examine the outdoors – it was a never ending horizon of dirt and desert shrubbery. ' _Should I have brought sunscreen?'_ Her brows furrowed as she stared at the heat waves rippling off the ground _. 'No… I'll be inside all day._ _It's just an indoor job, they won't be putting me outside.'_ She rubbed her arm as she reassured herself that her fears would not be challenged. Pulling her eyes away from the dreadful landscape, she examined the bus and discovered she was the only one there aside from the driver. Military based corporations were usually in the middle of no-where, so this did not phase the woman. No, instead she was looking at her watch wondering how long she had her face slammed up against the window. _'Three hours. Just two more to go.'_ A deep regretful sigh escaped her lungs. _'Why am I doing all of this… just for an interview?'_ Flashbacks to her last six months of unemployment gave her her answer. She flashed a pensive frown at her own reflection in the glass. "Please God, let me get this job."

Two hours passed and the bus finally stopped, squeaky breaks and all. Jessie collected her luggage and hopped out of the vehicle. She turned to look at the driver and wave him off. "Thank you sir! Have a nice day!"

"You too lil' lady!" With that he closed the doors and drove off.

Jessie turned around to see nothing but dirt, desert, mountains, and cliffs. ' _Where the hell is this place?!'_

She pulled out her map.

"Oh, for fuck sakes!" The map displayed that the building she needed to get to was 3 miles off the road. "Fuck this job already." Jessie looked down the road where the bus went, but it was nowhere to be seen. Arguing with herself on what to do for five minutes, she finally stopped and grabbed her suit case. Her feet faced the path and that's the direction she started walking in.

"The things I do just to get an interview… why couldn't we have an interview on the phone? Why could they not have their headquarters in the middle of flat fucking-cactus filled-goddamn-hot-as-fuck- fucking nowhere!?" Jessie couldn't help but laugh at herself in this situation, but the positive turned to negative as the crippling isolation became dangerously apparent to her. The openness and lack of people started to affect her immediately. _'It's just a little walk and you'll be there in no time.'_ She walked in silence as she tried to calm herself. _'Just a little walk and you'll be fine.'_ She looked up at her endless path ahead and her fear turned to anger. _'Why am I doing this? Why would they even accept me for this job? I couldn't even get any of those other jobs. Nobody wanted to hire me. No one will ever hire me. I'm going to have to go back home and clean houses for the rest of my life.'_ Her body felt heavy as the never-ending berating comments continued. She could physically feel herself getting disheartened and once she was consciously aware of it, she mentally slapped herself.

"No. I'm going to get this job! I'm going to walk there, ace that interview, and get the job!" She smiled and was no longer focusing on the open and aloneness of her environment. Instead she was focused on the path ahead and what may await in her future.

"Who else would show this much dedication for an interview? That should definitely mean something to them." The sun shined on her, not because it was a sign that she was thinking more positively, but because she was in the middle of a blistering dessert where the sun shined on things till they died of dehydration.

"They asked for this interview for a reason and it was to see if I was fit for the job. And you know what? I am fit for this job. I can do this!" As she mentally prepped herself up, as if on cue, the tip of the Mann. Co headquarters could be seen peaking over the horizon.

"I can do th-!" Jessie was cut off by the sudden awkward impact her foot had when making contact with the ground. The heel of her shoe broke making her lose her footing and sending her straight on her bum. After the dust settled and the shock wore off, Jessie laughed at herself. _'Of course… in any point of my life, why would that not happen now?'_ She tore the broken shoe off and went digging in her suit case for another pair.

Another mile in another pair of shoes, a sweaty sticky Jessie made it to the foot of the building. Panting and nearly leaning over the extended handle of her suitcase, Jessie paused before the staircase. _'Okay, now to catch my breath and look presentable for the inter-'_

"Miss Mayfield!" Miss Pauling burst out of the doors and walked down the steps with her hand extended out. Jessie, although excited to see another human, hesitated to shake her hand unsure why her own relative was being so formal and using last names.

"Oh! _Miss Pauling_." She slowly enunciated her cousin's last name while shaking her hand.

Miss Pauling offered a faint smile and addressed Jessie's confusion. "It's best to use last names right now. They are fairly… _professional_ here." She just barely got the word 'professional' out before her brain stopped her from uttering something so untrue and ridiculous.

Jessie sucked in a breath. "Ah, okay." And then she let it out as she relaxed into a less reserved persona.

"Wow… I thought I'd never see you again. You never show up at any family get-togethers! I mean… there's barely anyone at them so it doesn't help when you're not there."

Miss Pauling sighed with a frown and rubbed her neck. "Yeah, sorry about that. This job can get busy at times, and finding any free time is pretty much…" Miss. Pauling's mind drifted to a day where she disposed of four bodies, wrote off the companies taxes and then ended her day fumigating an entire building because the company refused to pay for an exterminator. "…impossible."

Jessie adorned a sympathetic smile. "I know what you mean. If you want to keep your job now-a-days they expect you to basically volunteer all your free time to them." She chuckled.

If only Miss Pauling had free time to volunteer off. At this moment she regretted, for a split second, vouching for Jessie. "Yes, anyways. I need to get you to the administrator right away. You took a bit longer than expected." The purple dressed woman started escorting Jessie to an elevator. Jessie obliged but looked back at her stuff as she was shuffled away.

"Wait-But what about my luggage?" She stood in the elevator looking out over Miss Pauling's shoulder at her suitcase.

"Don't worry, I'll have it sent to Teufort and you can get it there."

Jessie paused for a moment as the doors started to close. "Wait! What if I don't get the job!?"

"Goodluck!" Miss Pauling ignored Jessie's last comment as the doors shut.

Jessie sighed to herself. _'Great… now if I don't get the job I will have to go searching for my luggage.'_ She waited uncomfortably in the elevator, the sweat now solidifying on her skin making a tacky thin layer between her skin and her clothes. The fact that she was wearing a blazer jacket didn't help, but she kept it on because she was well aware of the ever-growing pit stains she had. The elevator stopped, dinged, and the doors slid open. Jessie stepped out and was greeted by the back of a chair in front of dozens of monitors all glowing in different shades of green. She hesitated to speak, unsure of if she was even in the right room.

"Jessie Mayfield." An old woman's voice spoke out from behind the chair.

Jessie's confidence, much like the lighting in the room, was low… very low. "Yes… Helen?" She gulped.

"Just call me the Administrator." The chair swiveled and stopped dead on its pivot to face the nervous girl in the room. The tall lean woman in the menacing chair was just as menacing and leathery as the chair itself. The glow of the monitors made it difficult to see the woman, but it wasn't hard to see the sunken-in-ever-lasting frown that was engraved on her face.

"Oh, alright." Jessie nodded.

"So Miss. Mayfield… You're applying for the role of Mann Co.'s Secretary and Inventory Manager, yes?"

"Yes Administrator." Jessie reverted to using military terms since this woman gave off such a superior officer ambiance.

"You seem to meet every requirement for this job. But I'd just like to ask you a few hypothetical questions…" The woman talked as if she was growing.

 _'This is the interview? I don't even have a chair to sit in.'_ Jessie looked around the room but to no avail there were no other chairs. She stayed standing. She hadn't prepared for the lack of chairs but she had prepared for these questions, many employers ask these questions to determine the personality of the person and how they would fit in their work environment.

"Ask away." She attempted a chipper tone but it came off as insecure.

The Administrator sat up, ignoring but also be painfully aware of just how afraid this other woman was of her. She took a drag of her cigarette, the glowing amber shining just a little light on the woman. "If you were to come in contact with any classified documents that would reprimand the company, what would you do?"

 _'What.'_ "Oh um, I'd bring them up with you to further discuss what I should do with them." _'That was really upfront, there must be some dark stuff behind this company...'_

The lean woman grew a faint wicked smirk. "Very good. Now, what would you do in the event that we could not pay you, but still required your work?"

 _'I'd head out of dodge and find a job that will pay me.'_ "Oh, I'm very loyal. I'd keep working just as hard until you could pay me again." Jessie consciously kept her hands at her side, remembering all the tricks of interviewing body language.

"Good. Finally…" The Administrator leaned forward slightly in her chair, staring firmly at Jessie. "… What if your life is being threatened by another staff member or competing company employee?"

 _'Where the hell is this coming from?'_ "I'd normally contact the authorities… but in your case I'd bring it up to you…" She stopped but added on more in hopes it would satisfy this woman. "… and only you."

The Administrator sat back, fading further into the shadow her chair casted. "Alright, I've heard enough. Head down to Teufort, a staff member should be there to tour you around your facilities and show you to your room." She flicked the butt of her cigarette at the ground.

"I got the job? I mean, yes Administrator. I won't let you down." Jessie fought to keep the corners of her mouth down.

The Administrator snarled at the woman's chipper tone, but other than that, she was satisfied that the work was off Miss Pauling's shoulders. Not for Miss Pauling's sake though, no, it was so Miss Pauling would be free to work on the Administrator's plan. A plan that she and Miss Pauling would be devoting most of their lives to from now on.

Jessie rushed into the elevator and pressed the ground floor button. She stood still as the doors closed and waited about five seconds before she broke out in relief.

"I did it." She leaned against the elevator wall, her body and mind completely exhausted from the energy she spent trying to make it to this moment. ' _I fucking did it._ ' She took in a deep breath that made her feel like she was finally getting air for the first time in six months. Her posture straightened as the elevator made its way to the ground floor, she had an appearance to keep up now: Official Secretary and Inventory Manager of Mann Co.

"I got the job!" Jessie burst out of the elevator and ran up to Miss Pauling, grabbing her by the shoulders with joy.

"I heard." Miss Pauling smiled a smile that she herself did not notice or feel.

Jessie let go and did a little whimsical spin. "I can't believe this! I'm so happy!"

Miss Pauling grabbed Jessie's shoulder stopping her mid spin. "I'm glad." The time within that moment slowed as Pauling gave her an honest and sincere small smile.

Jessie softened her excited face to mirror back the same smile. This then faded as her eyes glazed over for a second. "Just a couple questions though. What happened in this company's past?" Pauling and Jessie let go of each other. "Did someone threaten someone? Did the company commit tax fraud?" The more questions asked, the more both of them were dragged back to reality.

"Uh… yeah there's a lot for you to learn about this company." The constant war between 14 men, the never-ending feud between two brothers, the corruption and lies that lie just below everything. "I know you can handle it though. If I've handled it for this long, you can too." Hopefully.

A corner of Jessie's mouth raised as she gave her a nod. "Thanks."

Miss Pauling started to escort Jessie through the lobby. "You should know though that we do many illegal things here." She said this casually without even looking at Jessie.

Jessie rolled her eyes. _'Another fishy company.'_ "I had a feeling. If the company can keep hiding it until I die, then I'm fine." She shrugged knowing company conspiracies were something she could handle.

"Good. I knew you could do this." Miss Pauling stopped Jessie before exiting the doors. "Alright, I called the guys down at Teufort and arranged for them to meet you inside the building. They said they had to make you _outdoor living accommodations_ because what would have been your room is under _construction_. Other than that, you're good to go. Your stuff is already there and I called a cab to take you this time." She opened the door to reveal a yellow taxi cab.

 _'Oh thank you sweet Jesus.'_

Jessie got in the cab as Miss Pauling followed. Before she shut the door she looked up at Miss Pauling.

"Ca- _Miss Pauling_ … I can't thank you enough. You've always been my favourite cousin."

A small moment passed as a genuine thanks was processed by Miss Pauling. It had been a while since she felt real kindness and appreciation.

"No problem _Miss Mayfield_ … You aren't a bad relative either." With that, Pauling shut the door and tapped on the roof of the car to send it off. The cab drove all the way down the horizon out of her view. Miss Pauling let out a small sigh. She brought Jessie in to take care of the things that were too mundane for her to waste her time on, so she was relieved that that work was off her back. But she was also happy that Jessie found joy in doing those mundane things… for money of course.

Jessie, feeling bare without her luggage and gross with her blazer on, sat very uncomfortably in the cab. Her mind was coming off of the adrenaline buzz that came from getting her job. She was still happy, but a person can feel gross, tired and happy at the same time.

Two hours passed and Jessie woke up.

"Alright lady. This is your stop."

"Oh." Jessie, still slightly blind from her nap, fumbled as she exited the cab. Once out, she looked to the cab driver. "Thank you, have a nice night!"

The taxi driver grumbled, frowned and drove off, leaving a dirt cloud to choke Jessie.

 _'Stupid asshole. Didn't even smile back.'_

As the dirt clung to her sticky legs, Jessie continued her trek to the Teufort facilities. _'Okay, act professional. Your shoes may not match your outfit and you may be hiding some serious sweat stains, but that does not mean you can't look professional._ '

Just as the landscape's emptiness started to creep into Jessie's mind, she could see a large three story wooden building up ahead. From what she could see there was not much around it, other than a campervan and a pile of rubbish composed of cloth and broken pieces of wood. As she got closer she could hear explosions, gunfire and yelling in the distance. _'I guess they are practicing today…'_ Once she made it to the wooden building she started walking its perimeter. _'Where the hell is the entrance?'_ After following the perimeter around the corner she spotted a door that led inside the massive structure.

Jessie walked inside and down a hall that led to a living room. She grimaced as she felt lost and stupid, not wanting to call out for help on the first day. So she kept walking through the building, during her exploration she passed a kitchen and multiple rooms.

"Hello?" She finally spoke up feeling that the situation was weird enough that a simple 'hello' was not a sign of idiocy anymore. She followed the hall and ignored any closed doors, if a door was closed, it was best not to go through it. Finally, the end of the hall opened up into a larger room and there she saw her belongings. She ran to them. ' _Thank God. At least I have my stuff._ ' Upon actually getting to them she noticed a paper on her suitcase.

" _Dear Secretary,_

 _If you are reading this that means that duty calls and we were unable to be here for your arrival. However you may find you room and get yourself settled as we carry out our own tasks. Your room is currently being renovated so we have given you living quarters out behind the building (outside, east of the building). If we do not arrive before 19:00, we will start the tour tomorrow around 07:00. We are very happy to have you here. Please feel welcomed._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Team Red_ "

 _'A little rude that they aren't here, but I get their situation.'_ She looked back at the paper, scanning to see where she could find her room. _'Outside behind the building? East? I guess they mean that campervan. Well that's not so bad.'_ Jessie backtracked, only now starting to really feel the soreness in her calves and heels. ' _I hope there's a shower in there… I am taking one ASAP.'_ With the thought of showering in her near future, Jessie increased her walking speed as her suitcase rolled along, bumping up with each pebble outside.

Finally, she stopped at the campervan's entrance and threw the door open. Before stepping inside, she caught a whiff of coffee and an interesting earthy smell. _'Hmm…'_ She entered and examined her temporary living quarters. _'Aw… it's so quant and cozy.'_ She looked at the objects adoring the empty spaces on the walls. ' _It's even decorated!_ ' Jessie couldn't help but touch the boomerang and alligator head on the wall. _'Ooo, they're so 'cultured'… with this outback theme.'_ Her sarcastic thoughts ended as she turned to face the sink and counter. _'Oh good. A coffee pot! Wow… I really could just live in here. No communal kitchen required.'_ A scoff escaped her lips as she brought her stuff towards the bed. _'Hmm… I guess they were in a rush… they didn't even make the bed."_ She sighed. _'Oh well!'_ Jessie fell flat onto the bed, her body deflating like a ballon.

Staring up at the ceiling she smiled. ' _This is a good day. I'm actually happy._ ' She lifted her wrist to her face to check the time. ' _6:30 pm… 50 more minutes and I can get ready for bed._ ' Her body sunk into the worn out mattress without any objections, her feet freed themselves from her tight foot prisons, and her mind finally flowed with clear thoughts. ' _The tour is obviously happening tomorrow, no doubt about that. Thankfully that means I won't be so gross when I meet them._ ' Her body, coated in a layer of dirt and sweat cried out for a shower. Jessie ignored these cries, soothing her body with the promise of a shower in an hour.

' _Seems to be a lot of shady stuff behind this company. But I mean, every other company has shady stuff going on. I still can't believe the last place I worked at was secretly experimenting on employees by lacing the papers they touched with absorbable LSD._ ' Jessie laughed at her own thought. ' _Sounds pretty crazy when I think about it like that…_ ' But her previous company's experiments only reminded her of her current company. ' _I wonder what they really do here. Miss Pauling- wow… I'm even calling her that in my mind now – whatever. Miss Pauling only told me it was military based and there were lots of advanced medical techniques used._ ' She searched her memory for more information that she gathered. _'And… there are only 9 other employees that I'll be working with. It's weird to think that that building would be so big but only hold 9 staff members.'_

A sudden itch on her neck paused her thoughts so she could focus on scratching the area. After scratching the back of her neck, there was clumps of residue under her nails from all the dirt and sweat layering her skin. With the thought of a shower in mind, she looked at her watch again. _'Bingo. 7:20. Shower time.'_

Jessie leaned forward off the bed as she searched her luggage for soap, shampoo and conditioner. With toiletries in hand she located the tiny bathroom and placed her items in the shower. Surprisingly enough, there were already toiletries in there. _'Wow. They got me shampoo and soap. Okay, I take back that I called them 'rude'.'_

After setting up her toiletries and placing her towels by the shower, she disrobed, placer her dirty skirt, blouse and blazer in a little plastic bag. She wouldn't dare put filthy clothes in her suitcase with the rest of her clean clothes. That would be pure blasphemy to her.

"Oh God yes." The warm water hit her chest, breaking through the grime and sticky layers to grace her pale skin with its clean warmth. _'What a great way to end the day.'_ The water and steam bounced off the shower curtain hitting her skin while making a lulling rhythm. She soaped up her body first, shampooed and then moved onto conditioner. After she rinsed, she couldn't help but feel like there was still a layer of muck on her skin, so she went to town with the soap again, using her fingernails to scrape off the gunk.

Just then, the bathroom door opened. Jessie froze, unsure if the noise was just in her head. She eyed the shower curtain blocking her view, trying to focus her ears on any noises.

"Oi, what'er ya doin' in 'ere?"


	2. Chapter 2: Friendly Acquaintances

**I'll be upfront and say this chapter is something you just have to read and get through – nothing too interesting happens other than, of course, the beginning scene. But I assure you, it's all an important and necessary step for the story. Just be aware that slow, seemingly 'unnecessary' scenes in this chapter do not represent the rest of the story. So with all that said. Please enjoy this chapter… it has relationship building so I hope you gain some satisfaction in characters earning friendship. More Sniper stuff will come… but it's gonna come naturally. I'm not forcing this shit to happen anymore.**

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Just then, the bathroom door opened. Jessie froze, unsure if the noise was just in her head. She eyed the shower curtain blocking her view, trying to focus her ears on any noises.

"Oi, what'er ya doin' in 'ere?"

Jessie's heart skipped at beat and then picked up where it left off but only ten times faster. _'Holy fuck. That was a voice. That was a real voice.'_ Jessie slowly went to look around the curtain.

"Don't move." The voice drawled out.

She froze in response. _'I'm going to get murdered.'_

"Now, get outta tha showa an' this campa befor' I shoot ya where ya stand." The blurry silhouette of a man stood before the shower curtain, with a sharper shadow being the tip of his gun almost touching the curtain.

Jessie's limbs and ligaments were stuck, her lungs refused to process just how fast the heart was beating. _'Statistically speaking though, I'm going to get raped and then murdered.'_ Her eyes darted around the shower and at the shadowed figure on the other side of the curtain. After trying to sort out her thoughts for 3 seconds, she spotted her shampoo bottle.

Her vocal chords activated. "Okay, please just don't shoot." Her voice shook as she complied with the gunman, slowly grabbing the shampoo as she started pulling the curtain back just enough so she could see the man.

The moment she saw him she only had enough time to process that he was starting to lower his gun, and not that his snarled expression was softening into a confused one.

 _'Go!_ _Now!_ ' Jessie aimed the shampoo bottle and squirted a stream of soap into the man's eyes.

"ARHG!"

 _BANG!_

The man fired a shot shattering the mirror behind her. The flying mirror shards didn't matter though, Jessie was too busy grabbing her towel and pushing past the man as he rubbed the stinging liquid out of his eyes. Jessie slipped in the narrow hall of the camper, but the walls were so close together that it didn't take much to just push back off of them. In a split second she was at the door.

"Bloody 'ell! Get back 'ere!" Just as Jessie jumped out of the camper, the man grabbed her by the arm midair and pulled her back down inside. Not only did Jessie hit her head on the table, but she hit her head again once her body finally slammed down onto the floor. There were shockwaves of pain radiating from her head but the only thing she could focus on was the inside of a gun barrel pointed right between her eyes.

"O'lright. Ya clearly not a homeless bloke." One of his eyes were closed due to the pain, but that didn't stop him from aiming the gun at her.

Jessie tightened the towel around her chest. _'Homeless?'_

"So why are ya in **my** bloody home?!" He pressed the gun against her forehead. The contact of the cold metal with her forehead shocked her into speaking.

" **Your** home?!" Her face was still mixed between fear and shock, now there was an additional expression – confusion. The man snarled at this comment.

"Ah 'ell. Ya are homeless." His finger grazed over the trigger which fired up Jesse's vocal chords.

"No, no, no, no! I'm the secretary! I work here! I just got hired! They said I'd be living outside and thatmyroomwasnotready!" Jessie got out as many words possible in one breath and didn't take in a new one, she just closed her eyes and winced getting ready for the bang. The man looked down at the cowering woman, she was literally just in a towel. He looked behind him and saw the nice looking suitcase at the foot of his bed.

"Bugger." He grumbled out making Jessie open her eyes to see him lower his gun. Finally, her lungs accepted air back into them again, keeping up with the speeding heart. She slowly sat up, making sure not to scare the man.

"I thought this was the temporary room they set up for me." Her chest heaved as she was made aware of the unused adrenaline in her body. "I brought my luggage and everything. I even have the note from the staff here." She pointed to the bed, where the note laid.

The man looked back at the bed, when he saw the note he decided to walk over and pick it up. He scanned through it as Jessie sat up completely. She adjusted her towel, making sure it was covering everything. A couple seconds passed and the man looked up at her. He had a faint look of regret on his face as he sighed and grabbed her suit case, placing it a fair distance in front of him.

"Riote then." The Australian man turned his back to her. "Get dressed. Oi'm gonna take you inside so we can figure this out." He grumbled passively over his shoulder.

Jessie nodded at his back as if he could see her acknowledgement to his order, and stood up. She looked at his back. He was tilting his hat down as if not to be rude. A gulp forced its way down her throat and she stuck her hand in her suitcase and pulled out the first thing she touched: a simple workplace casual dress. As she looked back up, she noticed the man still had his back turned to her. '…' Her mind wouldn't produce structured thoughts, she was just trying to calm down as she followed his instructions.

"Okay, I'm dressed." Jessie stood in her dress, wet hair dampening the back of it. He lifted his hat and turned around, quickly glancing at her long enough to confirm she was dressed.

"Roite." He made his way past her and out the campervan. Jessie's breath hitched as he passed her. "Grab ya stuff an follo' me." He stood outside looking in with his rifle still at his side. Jessie nodded again grabbing her suitcase and plastic bag. She then followed him outside.

The air was cooler now that the sun was setting. The slight chill spread goosebumps up her legs like wildfire, it didn't help that her hair was wet.

 _'Okay, now this… is when he will kill you.'_ Her thoughts returned as she now had airtime to think properly. She eyed his rifle as they walked in silence. Her mouth opened, probably say something regretful.

"Is the gun still necessary?" She questioned with full respect. The Australian man looked over his shoulder and then back in front of himself.

"Listen. Oi'm about ninety percent sure you are who you say you are. 'owever, this means that I ain't 100 percent certain. So if I ain't certain, than that means I need to take precautions." He spoke over his shoulder.

Jessie stayed quiet this time. She understood his point of view but was still a little worried as she was in no position to defend herself. Her eyes scanned the back of his body as they walked. He was tall, taller than the average person and extremely taller than Jessie. He seemed gruff, not just by appearance but by his behaviour. _'He did just get out of practice only to be attacked in his own home.'_ Jessie gave the man the benefit of the doubt as to why he attacked her.

They made it inside the building and he continued to lead her… somewhere, she didn't exactly know where they were going, just that they were going to solve this misunderstanding. As she followed him she spotted people in the other rooms they passed. One of them made eye contact with her which shocked her into looking back ahead of her at the tired man leading the way. There was a small commotion beginning to start far behind her. The further they walked the more the commotion increased. Finally they entered what looked like a medical room and approached a man in a lab coat and another man in overalls.

"Oi!" The Australian spoke up getting them to turn around to acknowledge him. "You two wanna explain wot she's doin' ere?" He looked back at the woman as the other two men did the same.

"Oh! Frauline! Nice to meet you, I am zhe Medic." The man in the lab coat, Medic, walked up and took her hand in a handshake. "And zhat is the Engineer." He referred to the man behind him who tipped his head down in a greeting fashion. Before Jessie could respond he spoke again. "Did you not get my letter? I said ve vould start zhe tour tomorrow?" He gave her a harmless quizzical look that made Jessie even sorrier for the misunderstanding.

"I did and I followed what it said-" She started her explanation but was cut short by the Australian man.

"She thought me campa was her room." He stepped forward pointing his hand toward where his 'home' was. The Medic raised his brows as if the problem was solved right then and there.

"Vell, I can see why zhis would be confusing. But your room is zhe tent outside." He gave her a reassuring smile with a tint on victory from having solved the issue. Jessie couldn't focus on anything else he said other than…

 _'Tent.'_ She had to shake herself out of her vicious thoughts so she could solve this problem civilly.

"There was nothing out there but his van though?" Her eyes darted between his, just hoping that the importance of what she said would get through to him. Once she stated this the Medic couldn't help but look a little unconfident in his last statement. He then turned around to talk the man in the overalls.

"Hmm. Ah. You did construct her tent, ja?" He tried keeping his words on the down-low as to not seem completely unprofessional to the woman. The Engineer furrowed his brows, upset that he was hearing the tent was not up.

"Nope. I had to get Soldier to do it." He shrugged his shoulders at the Medic, they both knew how busy the other was, and so pawning off tasks was not unheard of. All of a sudden the Australian man unfroze from his spot, getting Jessie's full attention.

"You bloody wankas." He shook his head at the two men and rolled his eyes.

The four of them stood outside in the cooling desert. They all stared at the pile of rubbish that was made up of cloth and broken wood. Silence fell among them as the answer slowly started to dawn on them that this pile of trash was her 'room'. The Medic stepped out of line from them and smiled.

"See! Zhere it is!" He placed his hands on his hips, mission accomplished, mystery solved, case closed, assignment fulfilled, job comple -

"That?!" Jessie uncontrollably uttered as the crippling thought of being outside in a tent completely shook her. She swallowed her fear to continue speaking in a presentable manner. "I'm sorry, but it's not even put together. I think it's even broken." Jessie spoke up for herself. If there was any time she would step out of her comfort zone to complain about something, this would be that time. The Medic tilted his head to the side and smiled at her.

"Nonsense. It's fine." He attempted to persuade her, but his soothing words were not enough to mask the truth, and the man in the overalls knew that. So he pulled the Medic back to have a quiet word with him.

"Medic. I, uh, think she's right." He whispered to the German man.

The Australian man at this point was done with the situation and just decided to slink back away from the whole ordeal unnoticed. But Jessie noticed him sneak away, she was all too familiar with slipping out of socially awkward situations that no longer involved her.

"Shh. I vas just trying to see if she vould go for it." The Medic whispered back to the Engineer. Jessie didn't bother listening to them anymore, she was too focused on watching the rifle man escape the situation and how he went about it. He didn't announce he was leaving, but he also didn't try too hard to make sure no one saw him leave. As Jessie stared at him walking back to his camper, he turned to look back. Even from far away she could feel the intensity of his stare, normally she'd look away by now but her eyes felt stuck as both curiosity and vulnerability kept her focused on the man.

"Ah, Miss Mayfield is it?" The Engineer shocked Jessie out of her stare down and brought her back to her main issue.

"I'm sorry about the tent. One of the teammates clearly did something wrong while fixin' it up." He nudged at the heap of trash with his foot, only making it come apart more. Jessie sucked in all her disappointment and frustration as she continued to go about this situation politely.

"It's okay. Where is my room that's under construction? I wouldn't mind just sleeping in there for the night." She forced a small smile, trying to keep the peace between herself and her fellow staff. But this comment only made the two men look at each other with ashamed looks.

"Uh yeah, about that."

"It's not under construction." Jessie stood in front of a room that was filled floor to ceiling with crates all of different sizes and other random contraptions. The Engineer and Medic stood behind Jessie as she stared at her room.

"No." Overalls replied with a straight up answer, no longer hiding the truth. Jessie nodded slowly just barely keeping herself from freaking out.

"It's just full of junk." She stated, wanting to hear them admit it. A very small pause came but Jessie interrupted it again to speak her mind – a mind that was slowly losing its patience.

"You took away my room for storage." Her teeth clenched together but she did her very best not to seem angry. The Medic shifted behind her.

"Yes, and garbage." He was glad to confirm and add onto her last question. Jessie just shut her eyes and took a deep breath in. _'It's just the first day. It's just the first day. We all make mistakes. We all make mistakes.'_ She turned to the other men.

"That's fine. I'll just clean it out and store away all of this… stuff… later." Her head was tilted down slightly as her eyes bore into them. The Medic smiled at her response.

"Oh good! Zhat vill give me some time to work. Excuse me if you will, I must go dissect those vulture testicals before they dry out under the heat lamp." He smiled politely and headed back down the hall. The Texan man grimaced at what the Medic had said but then frowned at Jessie, for he could not help her either.

"I'm sorry about all of this Miss Mayfield. I promise you, it ain't always like this." The Engineer took off his hard had as he apologized. He kept switching between a disappointed frown to an apologetic sad side smile. Jessie could clearly register that this man was sorry, so all of the anger that was rising inside of her had to be settled down. For her target of disappointment was not him.

"It's okay." She sighed, feeling defeated and like her unused anger would be stored in an unhealthy way.

"I'm 'fraid I can't help you either. I have my own business I need to attend to." He told her the truth as he put his hat back on. She just nodded.

"That's fine." Her eyes stared at the ground as her mind raced. _'Oh fuck you… you stupid hard hat wearing motherfucker.'_ She looked back at her dump of a room and then back at the Engineer. _'No… he doesn't deserve that… he's really sorry and he does seem very busy.'_ She gave him a bitter smile which made the Engineer feel twice as guilty.

"You can ask any of the other men though. I'm sure they'd be glad to help you." His tone was more hopeful but it didn't give Jessie any relief. ' _It's almost 9:00 pm… who the hell would help me at this hour?'_

"Okay…" Jessie nodded wanting the conversation to be over. The Engineer just forced another rueful smile and headed off leaving her alone with her suit case.

She turned to her room again and started taking things out. _'I don't need anyone's help. I can do this on my own.'_ Her plan was to remove any useless things from the room tonight and then store it all tomorrow at some point. She emptied out about half the room but still couldn't find the bed. There were massive crates piled in the corner – probably hiding the bed. _'No problem… I'll just move them.'_ She wrapped her arms around the crates and attempted moving them but they would not shift. After a minute of trying she attempted lifting it from a different angle, but like before, it wouldn't budge. She huffed and wiped her damp hair out of her face. _'Okay… Maybe it's a good time to ask for help. Like the Engineer said.'_ She headed down the hall but stopped at the end, wondering which way to go _. 'Now if I could just find them.'_

After some aimless wandering Jessie came across a eating and entertainment area that contained some of her fellow workers. _'Oh good!'_ Things were looking up, but that didn't stop Jessie from shyly entering the room as if she was entering a den filled with lions. There were two men at the table, one with a helmet on eating some food, the other splayed over the table sleeping. There was a third man, he was the largest of them all and he sitting on a couch reading. _'Who do I ask? Okay go from least intimidating to most - sleeping man, helmet man and then big man.'_

"Excuse me sir?" She bent her body at the hip to be at the same angle as the sleeping man. Once there was no reply she poked him, only making the intoxicated man roll his face over revealing his eyepatch and exposing the massive puddle of saliva that he had just been basting in. Jessie expressed her disgust on her face. _'Oh god.'_ She quickly moved onto the next man on her list – Helmet man.

"Hello, I'm Miss Mayfield. I'm your new secretary. I was wondering if you could help me carry some crates out of my room." Jessie had on her polite girl smile, willingly appearing weak in front of the man. Without even looking up or swallowing the food in his mouth he answered her request.

"If you cannot move them yourself than you need to earn that ability! You must lift anything and everything until you can move those crates on your own!" He slammed the bottom of his fist against the table making the peas on his plate jump up. He then looked up at her, well at least he faced her, she couldn't really tell with the helmet blocking his eyes. "I cannot help you, until you help yourself!" The man yelled the most 'self help' sounding advice in a loud aggressive way, it just completely shut Jessie up. Too stunned to even function, she went back into her brain to process what he just said.

' _Okay, four out of the nine men have literally proven to be completely uncompliant or useless._ ' She looked over to the most intimidating man in the room and had to mentally force her body to walk over to him. _'Big man.'_

"Excuse me. I'm really sorry to bother you… I'm the new secretary here and I just need some help moving some heavy crates out of my room." She forced a tired smile, no longer having any hope in her system. The large man looked up from his book.

"I've noticed. Soldier and Demo refuse to help leetle voman." He put the book on his lap. Jessie was floored by his response as well as the thick Russian accent, but also confused by what he called them.

"Soldier and Demo?" She tilted her head and the big man gave her a nod.

"Dey are insane and drunk. No use to you." He lifted his book and placed a bookmarker in it and set it on the coffee table. He then stood up, completely towering over the woman, literally casting his shadow over her entire body. "However, I can be of use to you since you are polite and patient." Even with all his intimidation, the fact that he said he would help her, completely removed her fear of him.

"Oh god. Thank you so much sir. My- my name is Miss Mayfield, I didn't get yours." She stumbled to get out the formals and stuck out her hand to complete the greeting.

"I am heavy veapons guy. But you can call me Heavy." He engulfed her small hand in his cinderblock of a hand, but he knew his own strength so the handshake did not feel any different than a normal one – aside from the fact that her whole hand was just inside his closed palm.

"Heavy… okay. Thank you Heavy." She took her hand back and naturally smiled, finally happy something was going her way.

The two walked down the hall, both happy in each other's silence. That is, until a skinny man crossed paths with them.

"Hey hey hey." The Boston accent rang out as the boy canceled his past destination, setting a new course to head wherever the lady was headed. "Woah up there. Hey there good-lookin, you droppin by for long." He was now walking beside Jessie attempting to talk to her.

"Yes, I work here." She stayed well-mannered, but by the way Heavy rolled his eyes she soon regretted engaging with the boy.

"Oh good – wait… ya do?" He continued side walking as he faced her. This was one of the only times the men here gave her any interest.

"Yes I'm the secretary." She briefly glanced at him noticing his youthful appearance and innocent face.

"What? We have a secretary now? They can afford to hire another person but can't afford to get me new bats. Fuck this." His innocent face was dead to Jessie now. This boy was just another disappointing member of her new team. "I mean. Not 'fuck you' or anything, I'm sure you'll help out the base a lot – answerin' phone calls and writin'… and readin' and such." He drabbled on making the Heavy grunt.

"Scout should leave leetle voman alone. Before she gets headache." Heavy didn't laugh or change expression at all but Jessie fought with all her might not to smirk. She didn't expect Heavy to say something like that, it was really satisfying to hear. By now they were at her room and Scout was steaming at Heavy.

"Hey tubby, watch it. Headaches are the last thing I give the ladies." Scout pointed finger guns at Jessie, and never in her life has she rolled her eyes so hard it physically hurt to complete the full circumference. "In fact, the ladies often come to me when they want their headaches to go away." He waggled his eyebrows at Jessie making her rethink her polite approach.

"Scout is it?" She furrowed at him and his odd name.

"Yeah it is." He gave her a toothy smile complete with a raised eyebrow. Jessie unfurrowed her brows and went stone faced.

"I agree with Heavy. So unless you can help lift garbage out of my room, I really feel like it's inefficient for you to be here." She went back into her room to move a couple more small things out, Heavy too started to help by lifting those extra heavy crates out. Scout, offended to be called such things, and to be out performed by Heavy, went above and beyond to prove her wrong.

"Lift garbage? Hell yeah I can do that. No problem. I ain't inefficient, I can be just as useful as tons of fun over here." He nodded over to the large man who was successfully clearing out the room. Jessie stopped her task to give Scout an order.

"Okay then. Go ahead and start by taking those crates out of there and placing them in the hall." She pointed at the other heavy crates.

Scout spent ten minutes trying to lift the crate while Heavy and Jessie were busy with their own tasks. Finally, the only unwanted object in the room was the crate Scout was trying to lift (and Scout). Heavy let Scout mull away at the unmovable object as he watched Jessie walk around the room speaking to herself.

"If I keep a crate there I can use it as a night stand. Oh and look, there's an old lamp. Good good, so if my bed was placed by that wall then I could actually have the lamp go beside it because it can reach the outlet. Oh… but what will I do for a dresser. Oh I'll-"

"Leetle voman sounds like Miss Pauling." Heavy couldn't help but draw the comparison out loud, breaking Jessie's concentration.

"Oh! You know Miss Pauling?" She was surprised to hear her cousin's name. The fact that they possibly knew her made her feel less alien to the facility. Sadly that warm feeling was scrapped away upon hearing Scout pipe up.

"Heh. Yeah we do. She can't keep her hands off me." He leaned against the crate that he couldn't move, turning his failure into a crutch to display his lady-charm. Heavy couldn't help but smile at the boy's delusional comment. Jessie smiled too, knowing how her cousin would truly act towards this man.

"Ha! As her cousin, I beg to differ that she 'can't keep her hands off you'." She smirked at Scout having completely destroyed his ego.

"Miss Mayfield is Miss Pauling's cousin." Heavy interrupted just to clarify what he heard.

"Yup. We were really good friends too, when we were little." Jessie couldn't help but think back to when they were kids, just how close they were brought a sad smile to her face.

"Really? Are you still friends with her now? I've been meaning to get into contact with her, but it's really hard with the administrator and all." Scout nearly leapt at the opportunity to have some connection to Miss Pauling. Jessie paid no attention to the man for she was hung up on his first question. _'Are we still friends…'_ Her smile softened into something that held sorrow. _'Why did you drift away from me?'_

"It feels like we are just friendly acquaintances now… But no, any calls I make to her are completely business related." Her grief-stricken tone changed back to assertive. No way was she letting this man bother her cousin.

Scout's face dropped. "You know what? Fine. I ain't helpin ya anymore. So, uh, good luck cleaning up ya room." He scoffed as he passed through the doorframe.

"Its already cle-." Heavy placed his hand on Jessie's shoulder in order to stop her from engaging the Scout any more. The boy of course continued rambling on as he walked down the hall.

"I'll just leave you two to finish what I started." And with that, he was gone. Jessie went to get her suitcase but Heavy kept her in place with his hand. She looked up at him confused as to why he was keeping her in place. While still staring down the hall, Heavy spoke.

"Miss Mayfield. I hope you make friends with Miss Pauling again. Friends are very important in a place like dis." He then looked down at her, his hand more than half the size of her shoulder span. She in turn, smiled softly at him.

"Thank you Heavy. I hope someday I can earn your friendship as well." The corners of her eyes raised along with the corners of her mouth. Heavy patted her shoulder.

"Yes. Maybe someday soon." He nodded and stepped out of her room heading down the hall.

"Goodnight, thank you for staying up and helping me." Jessie stood at her doorway putting sincere thanks into her words. The Heavy continued walking.

"Goodnight Miss Mayfield."


	3. Chapter 3: The Secretary

**This is the last seemingly boring chapter. Everything is set up after this chapter and then the real shit will start next chapter. So once again, just hold on. Pls.**

* * *

 _Beep. Beep…_

 _Beep. Beep.._

Jessie's watch alarm went off interrupting her from her current rhythm of reading. ' _Time to get up._ ' She had already been up for 2 hours, passing the time by reading her book: Rocks and Minerals; a rock lover's guide to rocks of Alabama River. It was just one of the many other rock books she had collected over the years. An odd obsession of hers that had grown from her fear and curiosity of nature. It didn't take long for her thoughts to change back to work though. _'It hasn't even been a day and I think I've talked more here than I have at any of my other workplaces'_. She reflected on the many faceless people she surrounded herself with. She never wanted to be physically alone so she worked in heavily populated companies and cities until she found some sort of comfort in just knowing other people were in the building. Never had she ever talked to those people either, they might have been close to her in distance but they were miles away from her socially... or… she was miles away from all of them. Regardless, Jessie was always open to change, until she was confronted with an internal flaw of hers that she would rather keep hidden and untouched. As she got ready, her eyes affixed themselves on her window and what lay beyond the wall – a never-ending outside world. It was so vast… and empty, she was embarrassed to even admit that it frightened her. She quickly turned towards her foggy mirror and adjusted her French bun, assuring herself that she did not have to go outside. Jessie got dressed and was ready to take on her first day.

It started with the tour, led by Engineer. He was surprised to see her room so clean and continued to apologize that he couldn't help. She, having completely forgiven him, assured him it was no problem and that she got some help from other staff members. Engineer showed her around the building, making sure she knew where the kitchen was, what was considered entertainment and living areas, and where to find both himself and Medic - who could almost always help her if she needed something and if they weren't busy. Jessie felt more welcomed, up until she saw where she would be working. Engineer introduced her to the very small decrepit room that was so small due to all the filing cabinets and so decrepit because of how unorganized and messy it all was.

"Uh… Engineer-" She stood in the door way, unblinking at the catastrophe before her.

"You can call me Engie." He was now friendly with her thanks to the tour.

Although happy to be on a more casual level with the man, she still had a bigger problem at hand. "Right. Engie… when was the last time someone organized this?" She still couldn't keep her eyes of the room of papers.

"This room has been off limits to most of the guys – not cause anything is classified. Jus' cause they don't wanna deal with it." He explained staring at her back.

Jessie's eyes narrowed as she was wondering how on earth they keep track of things. "Right… so how do you file away information?" She finally spun around to look at him.

Engie shrugged. "We just throw it in. Well they do. I keep all my documents in my workroom." He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder referring to where his workroom was in location to their position.

"Mhm." Jessie looked back to the room and brought her hand to her face as she started holding her chin in thought.

"Alight I'll leave you to it Miss Mayfield." The Texan announced his departure, heading back to his own work.

"Right. Thank you." She called out in reply to be polite but was still deep in thought staring at the paper filled room.

 _'I'll start with alphabetizing everythi- No, I'll categorize it first and then alphabetize.'_ She pulled open a file drawer to expose thousands of papers shoved inside, some of which were put into files and some of which were crumpled up into a ball and stuffed into the corners. ' _This is going to be a lot of reading.'_ She rubbed at her eye sockets. _'I can already feel my eyes drying up._ ' Before a day of intense uninterrupted reading, Jessie would treat her eyes with moisturising eye drops that helped her stay focused and kept her eyes from hurting. It was an old trick, or possibly even a habit, she picked up from her mom. If she had pockets and was working, she had eye drops with her and after a couple drops she was ready to take on anything, including this room. ' _Okay._ '

A couple hour pass and she had made a very small dent. The thing slowing her down were the mentions of classes and different class equipment. If all of it were organized, she would be able to see some sort of pattern and then be able to draw a conclusion as to what a class was. But with this mess, she was completely in the dark. So her main focus was on any financial papers, tax forms, and payment receipts. Jessie was seated on the floor surrounded by piles of these categories as well as other randomly scattered papers. _'$500 dollars spent on sandwiches was written off as a business related payment? How the hell did they manage that?'_ She scanned for the signature – _Medic_. ' _They even sign using their profession type as their signature?'_ Aside from that oddness she couldn't help but wonder how this man pulled off making sandwiches something business associated. _'There is going to be a lot I will have to learn from these men.'_

"Oi…" An Australian accent broke Jessie out of her deep set concentration and snapped her attention toward the doorframe. There stood the Australian man from last night, he didn't look as mad though. Instead he looked rather sheepish as he attempted to pick out and say his next words.

"You left this in me campavan." He showed her the shampoo bottle in his hands.

"Oh, thank you." A stunned Jessie got up from the ground feeling the ache in her knees, she pushed the pain aside though and took the shampoo off his hands. As she turned to put it on her desk a silent pause hung between them. Jessie didn't mind the silence but the Australian man had more to say, so breaking the silence was proving to be difficult for him.

"Oi'm sorry about tha whole incident that happened last nioght. Oi didn't mean to-" Jessie turned to face him as he started his apology. The look on his face was enough to let her know he was honestly sorry and probably embarrassed too. ' _What was it with these men and their apologetic faces?_ '

She quickly stopped him from continuing. "Oh no. It's fine, really. Probably the most exciting way to be welcomed at a company." Her words didn't lesson the embarrassment on his face so she decided to be less sarcastic. "A stranger was in your house and you were just protecting yourself. No apology needed." She offered him a half smile as she defended his behaviour.

The man knew he was in the right, but he still wanted to clear the air with his new colleague. He looked down and scratched his neck, he had to offer her a better explanation for his actions. "It's funny because I wos about to put me gun down when I heard ya voice. I thought 'ell, ain't a lot of homeless sheelas out 'ere. This don't seem roite.'" He softly chuckled to himself while still looking down as he remembered the events.

Jessie scoffed back. "Oh… is that when you started to put down your gun? Cause that's when I thought it was the best time to spray the soap." She pointed at his eyes and gave a small laugh as well, trying to lighten the mood.

As he thought back, the lips of his mouth slowly started to go up as he gave a 'yeah that's what happened and I'm embarrassed that it did' smile. "Heh yeah, that's exactly when." He nodded but didn't look at her, his eyes remained on the floor no longer in memory recollection but just in awkwardness.

At the mention of the shampoo it finally clicked for Jessie that she had squirted damaging liquids into this man's eyes. "Are your eyes okay?" Her brows pulled down in a concerned look as she tilted her head to get a better view of his eyes. "They put a lot of chemicals in woman's shampoos now."

He finally looked up at her only to be slightly startled that she was looking back. "Oi'm fine. Oi've 'ad harsher things in my eyes before." He swatted the air in the – it's not a big deal – hand gesture.

"Still…" Jessie was used to dealing with pride, she had seen it in almost every man she knew. The way to go about someone's stubborn pride is to continuously not back down and assure them that they are not seen to be any lesser than they were before. "Here! Take this." She pulled the eye drops out of her dress pocket and thrusted it in front of her. "They're eye drops. They should clear out anything in your eyes." She didn't reference that he was in pain or would be hurt by measly chemicals, just that her gift could assist him.

Once he heard her explanation he put his hand up in a 'stop' motion. "Nah mate, Oi'm fine." And there was the response she expected him to give – _'I don't need help, I'm a tough man! Some guys are like clockwork.'_

Now comes the part where she has to stand her ground. "No no. Just take it. Consider it my apology for invading your home." Jessie took his hand and placed the little bottle in the center of his palm. For a very small moment she was hyper aware of the feeling and texture of this hands – they were very dry and rough. She pushed down these thoughts to complete her process of bypassing his pride before he could even object again. "If you don't accept my apology, I won't accept yours." Her eyes locked on the Australian man's eyes as her brows raised to emphasize the importance of her statement. The last step of surpassing someone's pride was to offer an ultimatum.

There was a silent pause as the man contemplated what to do, his eyes were of great importance to him. He looked at her and then back at the eye drops. ' _C'mon. This never fails_.'

"O'lright then. Thanks mate." He bowed his head slightly and pocketed the new _gift_. He had finished what he came there to do and now everything was cleared up between them. Now it was time for him to leave. "Oi'll see ya 'round then yeah?"

Just then, as she thought about getting back to work, she remembered the trouble she was having before. "Oh! Actually before you go…" She went to the pile of papers that baffled her and brought them to Sniper. "…can you tell me what 'classes' mean - here?" She stood beside him holding up the papers so they could both look at them.

Sniper's sore eyes scanned over the paper. "Ah, yeah. They are just wot our professions are." He pointed at the piece of paper. "See 'ere, there's nine of us." He then dragged his finger along the class list. "Which means there's nine classes." He looked down at her to make sure she was following along.

The finger that was skimming stopped at one line. "That's Pyro – pyrotechnics." He continued moving his finger down the list. "That's Demo – he's our demolition man." He looked back at her and then pointed to another line. She could really feel how close he was and was embarrassed that she even put herself in this position. "An' thots Spy – he's just a spy."

Jessie's eyes widened. "Oh…"

 _'Heavy weapons guy – Heavy, Demolition man – Demo, Pyro the pyro, Engie the engineer, Medic, Scout, Soldier, Spy… they are called by their class. They have literally named themselves by their class…'_ Jessie felt pretty dumb for not being able to figure this out sooner. There were nine men and nine classes. But she continued to blame the mess, who knew if there were other classes in the mess? – She didn't, and that's why she didn't think there were just nine.

Now feeling stupid, she quickly removed herself from his personal space as her face flushed with embarrassment. "Okay. I get it. Thanks." She took the papers over to her desk and started organising them out.

"Eh, no worries." His Australian accent rang out reminding Jessie she had been constantly referring to him in her mind as the Australian man. As the question grew within her mind so did the intensity of her furrowing. She spun around from her desk forgetting the fact that her face was completely red.

"So what class are you?" Her head tilted.

"Oi'm tha Snipa'." A corner of his mouth rose to expose his canine tooth. A millisecond flash of attraction washed over Jessie as she saw his toothy half grin, the feeling was there and gone so quickly she hadn't even registered it. Instead, she smiled softly like she did in quiet moments when she was calm yet happy.

"Sniper…" She tested the name out with her own accent, didn't sound as cool coming from her. Regardless, where were her manners? "It's a pleasure to meet you Sniper. I'm Miss Mayfield." She stayed planted against her desk but offered him a closed warm smile.

"Miss Mayfield, Oi'll best be off then." He tipped his hat at her and then calmly went on his way.

Jessie watched him leave, content with just staying silent and having those be the last words of their conversation. There was a bit of a communicative ability between them, Jessie felt like she didn't have to say much to have a full conversation with him. ' _The Sniper… Hmm_.' Jessie immediately went back to work, but this time she started forming class files for each member of the team. The first profile she started with – Sniper.

Lunch had gone by, never once coming to Jessie's mind for she had worked another seven hours and was on a roll. _'Blueprints can go in that filing cabinet. The medical files are going to need two filing cabinets so I can squeeze the performance reports with the bills. Or should I put them with the profiles...?'_ She had all the papers organized and it was just a matter of placing them in appropriate cabinet locations. _'Yeah, I'll put the performance reports with the profiles… that way I can organize the reports the same way as the profiles but still keep them separated.'_ She stood up quickly making her head spin. The blurring of lights, lines and colours forced Jessie to kneel down with her hand on her head. ' _Right… I need to eat.'_ She stood up again, this time more slowly. She could feel the headache setting in and the sudden loss of energy.

Mayfield headed down to the kitchen, hoping that no one would be in there so she could eat in peace and tend to her ever-growing headache. To her disappointment she was not alone, there were two men in the room, and to further extend her disappointment, it looked as though it was going to be impossible to tend to her headache since Scout was in the room and had immediately spotted her.

"Ey! If it isn't Miss Mayfield! You grabbin' dinna? I just sat down too!" Scout nearly jumped out of his seat, grabbing the attention of the other man in the room who was cooking something on the stove and wearing a balaclava as he did it. The man did not move though, he simply just started listening to what was happening around him. Jessie went to the fridge and pulled out a microwavable dinner – like Engie had told her to do for the time being, up until she's there when they get food.

"How did ya make out with ya room after I left?" The boy spun in his chair, straddling it, just to face her.

Jessie put her food in the microwave as she kneaded her temple with her thumb. "Fine." She winced as the words came out, it felt like her vocal chords were vibrating in her head.

"That's great. Yeah, sorry I stormed off. I needed to get my sleep so I could work betta today. Runnin' and fightin' is real hard work." He flexed his bicep admiring what his hard work rewarded him with.

Jessie sighed and started pulling information from her memory. She then turned to face him. "Oh… yeah that's a good idea for you. Your performance scores were low this month." The corners of her mouth begged to go up, but she kept them down in order to fuck with him. The balaclava man's ears perked up at the mention of performance scores – something they didn't even have access to.

"Yeah my performance scor- Wait what?" His muscles stopped flexing and his lips stopped flapping as he waited for an explanation. The man in the suit waited as well.

The microwave dinged so Jessie removed her meal and started walking over to the dining table. "You were below average this month on shooting accuracy, speed, and damage dealt…" She sat down in front of him as she toyed with him. It seemed to be the only way to get him to shut up for a bit.

"What? How do you know that?!" Scout sat forward in his seat with his full torso almost all the way over the table. The man in the suit continued to cook and listen, turning his head slightly so he could hear them.

"I'm the secretary. I'm just about finished finding out everything about you guys." Jessie gloated a little bit, feeling she deserved a pat on the back for what she's gone through in the last 30 hours.

Scout's wonder and amazement completely took his mind off the low scores thing. "Oh! Oh! Oh! Whadaya know about Spy, huh?" He thumbed the direction behind him, referencing the man cooking. Spy shook his head slightly and groaned but didn't turn around.

"Whatever I know, I'm not telling you." The amusement was taking the edge off her headache. She actually started smiling now, feeling giddy about holding back information.

"C'mon Miss Mayfield! You cockblock me and Miss Pauling and now you're holding out on me with that juicy info!" Scout now had his hands on the table and had escalated his voice. An irritated Spy finished making his meal and placed it on a plate.

Jessie shrugged and held back visually exposing her enjoyment. "It's a shame too. I know quite a lot of interesting things about you guys now." She wore a wicked smile as she playfully dangled the unreachable in front of Scout.

"Miss Mayfield! Please!" Scout yelled with a smile. Spy winced and then finally turned around with his plate in hand.

"Scout. Be quiet." He walked past him and smacked the back of his head. Jessie snickered and Spy darted his eyes towards her. She stopped her snickering as she looked up at the sharp looking man.

"And you." He talked down to Jessie making any sigh of positivity drain off her face. "Quit indulging him. You are the secretary, not his playmate." Spy's lip curled up pushing up one of his nostrils in a scowl. "Act like it." He lifted his nose in the air making sure she could see the look of distain on his face as he left.

Jessie just froze. She didn't have any come backs or anything.

"Ay! Spy!" Scout shouted at the doorframe over Jessie's shoulder.

Jessie looked down at her food, there was an odd sensation in her stomach and it wasn't hunger.

"Whatta dick." Scout scowled but that expression changed once he saw Jessie's face. "Hey… Don't listen ta him." His tone was surprisingly softer, something Jessie wouldn't have expected to hear from the boy but did not notice because she was still hung up on Spy's words.

Jessie continued to look down at her food. "I'm going to eat in my room." She stood up quickly and started to make her way out.

"Miss Mayfield – no, c'mon don't let what that spook said get ta ya." She was out of the room but she could hear him shout for her to come back.

"Goodnight Scout." She shouted back not wanting to leave him in the dark for her mistakes.

Jessie ate in her room alone thinking over what the Spy said to her. ' _That was unprofessional of me… telling him any information in the documents_.' She aggressively stabbed her peas. ' _But it was just information about himself. I wasn't going to tell him anyone else's information._ ' Her face scrunched up as she mulled over the rights and wrongs. Finally her expression sank as it settled on disappointing features. ' _I shouldn't have shared any information from the start… I shouldn't have riled up Scout…_ ' She then started stabbing peas again ' _And I shouldn't have let that despicable man go without telling him to mind his own business._ ' She waggled her head as she mimicked the Spy's expression of disgust.

Jessie finished her meal and decided it was time to shower.

 _ **Sniper**_

"Bugger…" He whispered to himself as another drop missed his eye. This time he held his eyelids apart and - while looking into the mirror - attempted to get the medicine in his eye. Upon the release of the drop, he immediately closed his eye again.

"Bugger…" That had been the sixth try, his eyes were red and his nerves were on edge. He would have done this in the comfort of his campervan but his mirror was trashed along with his vision. The dryness in his eyes had kept him from being any use as a sniper on the field that day. That shampoo truly did do quite a number on his eyes.

He missed again.

"Bugger!" He slammed his fist against the sink counter. He was desperate for relief.

"Sniper?" A female voice – the only female voice - called out. He looked over his shoulder to see Miss Mayfield standing in the doorway with a towel in her hand.

Sniper looked back at the mirror, his hands firmly planted on the counter, and sighed as he hung his head. "Oh, bollocks." He muttered under his breath. His mouth opened in preparation to apologize and leave the bathroom for her, but she interrupted him.

"It's tough getting used to it." The voice was fairly close making Sniper look to her with slight surprise. She was suddenly beside him placing her towel on the long bathroom counter. For being a normal secretary she was fairly swift and quiet.

Miss Mayfield tilted her head to the side as her eyes scanned his face. "Especially with someone like you."

Sniper, now perplexed with her statement, opened up his posture to her – facing her head on with one hand on the counter and one hand on his hip. "'ow so?"

Miss Mayfield raised her eyebrows. "Well…" She then leaned back against the sink with crossed arms, and had her eyes go up as she thought. "You're the sniper. You're eyes are everything…" Her face focused on something as her mind went deeper into thought. "They are so well trained and interlaced with your reflexes, that when anything goes near them you are going to be the one that flinches the hardest." Her eyes returned to look at Sniper who just stood there unsure of what to say. She pushed off the counter and faced the man.

"When I first used eye drops I needed my mom to put them in." She then held out her hand. "Would you mind?"

Sniper froze up a bit, not use to receiving help outside the battlefield. He was leaning towards turning down her offer but when he glanced back in the mirror he could see just how red his eyes were. Seeing the bloodshot red colour triggered him to remember the pain he was currently in too.

"Sure, go ahead." He sighed, then relaxed into a smile at the thought of his next words. "If I'm as quick as you say, then you might have a bit of a challenge on your hands." He looked back to her and placed the eye dropper in her hand.

"Okay…" As soon as she approached the task she stopped, realising _something_ had to change. "Uh... I'm going to need you to kneel down or something." She looked up at him and it became apparent what her issue was.

Sniper chuckled at this request. "O'lrioght, lil' missy." He emphasised the word 'lil' as he slowly kneeled down.

Mayfield waggled her head as she fake laughed. "Oh ha ha…" She grabbed his head in between her hands and looked him dead in the eyes with a playful smirk. "That's lil' **Miss** Mayfield to you. Gotta stay professional." She then tilted his head up so he was more or less facing the ceiling.

Miss Mayfield got the eye dropper off the counter and then stood back in front of Sniper.

"Feels lioke Oi'm gonna be executed." He chuckled as he continued to stare at the ceiling.

"What a coincidence, because I'm also going to be counting to three." Mayfield joked as she held up the bottle to the light to see how much liquid was inside. "But… unlike an execution-" She unscrewed the cap and hovered her free hand over his cheek. "-I need you to focus on keeping your eye open as soon as we make it to 'three'." She placed her thumb under his brow and pushed up lightly - further opening the eye. "Think you can do that?" She teased with a smirk on her face.

"Sheela, Oi've kept my eyes open for thirty minutes straight just huntin' the great Boar of Australia." Sniper boasted while still staring up at the ceiling. He could feel just how smooth and soft her hand was as it pressed against his cheek.

Mayfield just shook her head and held the bottle over his eye. "Okay you ready." She continued to push his top eyelid up.

"Yeah, Oi'm ready." He confirmed, every muscle in his body tensed.

"Okay…" She started to squeeze the bottle. "One." The bottle released a drop that finally landed in the Sniper's eye.

"Oi!" Sniper immediately threw his head forward as he started rapidly blinking. "Wot the 'ell!" He rubbed his eye and stared at her irritably with his other eye.

Mayfield put her hands on her hips. "You really think I'm going to tell a trained mercenary when I'm going to strike them and then tell them not to defend themselves at that instance?" Her brow raised and she took Sniper's head between her hands again, tilting his head back up to face the ceiling.

Sniper let her move his head and hold his eye open as he continued being ill-tempered. "Oi didn't think ya'd lie to me so quick. You really are becoming one of Helen's employ-." Mayfield squeezed another drop into his other eye while he was busy talking.

"Oi!" He threw his head forward again and rubbed both eyes. "I wasn't ready!" He yelled out blindly.

Miss Mayfield screwed the cap back on and placed the bottle on the counter. "You're not supposed to be ready." She looked back at Sniper to see him rubbing at his sensitive eyes. "And stop rubbing your eyes, you're going to get a scratched cornea." She grabbed his wrists and held them away from his face.

Sniper, with his hands held away from his face and eyes shut, looked in the direction of Mayfield a corner of his mouth went up showing his canine tooth. "Lying to me and now you're blindsiding me. I 'ave neva met such a sneaky secretary."

"Every secretary is sneaking." Mayfield teasingly scoffed and let go of his wrists.

"Is that so?" He stood up and tilted his head back as he blinked rapidly.

"We are basically the gate keepers who know everything." She leaned her hip against the counter and now looked up at Sniper.

Sniper blinked slower and then rested his sights on the woman in front of him. "Bein' smoll must 'elp."

Mayfield rolled her eyes at his comment but then brought the topic back down to the situation at hand. "How are your eyes?" She tilted her head as she examined them from her respectable distance.

"Much… much betta'"

"Good. Now, keep using this. Like twice a day." She took the bottle off the counter and held it out for him.

Sniper smiled as he took it off her hands. "Thanks lil' Missy Mayfield." He watched as she smirked in response, a small pause growing between the two as they shared a quiet moment. But that smirk of hers was quickly replaced with a bitter smile as she cleared her throat and broke eye contact with him.

"No problem." She nodded and picked up her towel. "I have to shower now. Have a good night, Sniper." With that she went further into the bathroom down toward the showers.

He tracked her movement and swung from his hips to watch her walk away. "G'night." He called out and then looked down at the small bottle in his hands.

 _ **Jessie**_

 _'You're a secretary. Act like it.'_ She stood in the shower overthinking everything she experienced today. ' _There should be nothing wrong with spending time with the others. There should be nothing wrong with getting to know them and have fun._ ' She shampooed her hair viciously. _'He was just talking about leaking information.'_ Her motions slowed and then sped up again. _'Did I say talking? I meant unnecessarily scolding._ ' She quickly rinsed and took a deep breath of steam as the water hit her back. _'I need to stop over analyzing what he said…'_ Her fingers ran through her hair slowly, getting any tangles out. _'Maybe Scout is right. Maybe the Spy was just being a dick.'_ Her finger got caught in a tangle and she stopped all her movement to stare into space. _'Then again… that boy did say he could lift heavy crates…'_ With a blank expression she thought back to the truth behind his latter statement. Her finger broke through the knot in her hair. _'Well… a broken clock is right twice a day.'_

Jessie finished up her shower and headed to bed to get some much needed rest. She would need all her energy for tomorrow… she could feel it.


	4. Chapter 4: The Call

**Review Replies:**

 **Guest – Haha I'm not a fan of cliff hangers either! I usually try to never use them :P Just doesn't seem fair. Thank you, I'm glad you like my story so far.**

 **StrawberryVine – THANK YOU, I'm so glad you like how fast I'm taking it! I'm also happy you like Jessie because she's literally the main character ;P. No, but seriously thanks.**

 **ZinFinz – Thanks! I really wanted to make sure I didn't rush her interactions with the other teammates because they are important too and how she talks to them helps shape her character.**

 **Yeah about the F-bombs… they were supposed to show that Miss M keeps a lot of what she thinks on the inside because every swear word is in her mind and she never actually swears out loud when people are around. Just another way to show how she tries to be polite. I will admit though, it does ruin the flow – you are not wrong about that.**

 **I'm really happy you like my writing style :).** **Thanks so much and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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 **Here we go. Now is when things really pick up. Please enjoy.**

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Jessie woke up and went through her newly developed routine: read, get dressed, French bun, eat, go to work. She spent her morning putting away all the random do-dads outside her room. Then she went back to her, less decrepit but still tiny, office. Inside, she finished putting away all the profiles, organizing everything into categories, and cleaning out the desk.

As she put away profiles she stopped at one. _'Spy.'_ Her nose and lip curled up as her eyes squinted. _'Let's have a read. For educational purposes.'_ She sat in her chair and opened the folder on her desk, going through the man's file as if it were one of her rock books. Except she wasn't happy about what she was reading but she still had a devious smirk plastering her face. _'Date of Birth – Expunged, Name – Expunged…"_ Jessie's grin started to dwindle _. 'Birth Country – Expunged, Careers – Expunged…_ ' She flipped through the pages faster _. 'Bio – Expunged, Class – Spy, Parents – Expunged, Education – Expunged, Medical Records – Expunged, expunged, expunged, expunged!'_ She slammed the paper against the desk. Never in her life had papers made her so angry. ' _This guy really is a spy…_ ' Her demeanor calmed and she resorted to calmly scanning his files now that any excitement and hope were gone.

 _'TO BE SHREDDED.'_ Her eyes caught those capitalized letters. _'Well, what do we have here…?'_ She stayed on the medical report paper, now leaning forward in her chair. _'In all analyzed PCR systems, [firstname expunged]_ _[lastname expunged]_ _does show the genetic markers which have to be present for the biological father of the child Jeremy [lastname expunged]_ _._ ' Her mouth opened slightly. ' _Conclusion: Based on our analysis, it is practically proven that_ _[firstname expunged]_ _[lastname expunged]_ _is the biological father of the child Jeremy_ _[lastname expunged]_ _.'_ She immediately closed the file and put it back it the cabinet. She sat down eyes wide. _'Oh boy… that might have been a little too personal.'_ She twiddled her thumbs while still sitting back straight and wide-eyed. ' _I'm just going to pretend I didn't read that… I'm going to buy a shredder tomorrow… and I'm going to shred that document like it said to do._ ' Jessie nodded to herself. ' _No one will ever know... I'll be fine._ '

 _RING RING RING_

Jessie jumped from her chair as if the seat had spikes pop out of it.

 ** _RING RING RING_**

Her head darted from side to side looking for the noise. It sounded like it was coming from one of the filing cabinets.

 ** _RING RING RING_**

She opened a cabinet she had not yet went through to find a rotary phone jammed inside. Confused as all hell, she picked up it.

"…Hello?" She spoke into it.

"Miss Mayfield?!" It was Miss Pauling's distressed voice.

"Miss Pauling? Yeah, it's me. Are you okay?" Jessie picked up the whole rotary phone and walked it over to her desk as she stayed on the line with Miss Pauling.

"I need to talk to Medic!" She shouted in a controlled manner.

Jessie sat down slowly as she looked out the doorway. "Uh… they are training outside right now."

"Training? What are you talking abo- Oh! Wait! What time is it?" Miss Pauling's brain and speech were constantly getting ahead of themselves.

Jessie looked at her watch. "5:00 PM."

"Dammit. Okay… Miss Mayfield I'm going to need your help today. I'm coming by to pick you up. Be ready in 30 minutes!" She demanded in a stressed tone as odd noises played in the background.

"Oh- Okay!" Jessie barely got out any words before the line went dead.

 _'This doesn't feel right… it can't be that bad though._ ' Jessie cleaned up the office space and headed down to where Miss Pauling would pick her up. _'It's probably just some sort of delivery mix up that she's trying to fix last minute.'_

Then why did she need the Medic's help.

28 minutes pass and Miss Pauling arrived over the horizon on a small purple scooter.

"Miss Mayfield, get on – we have to go now!"

Jessie followed her instructions without a word. She got on the bike and, thanks to the lack of a helmet, she held on tight to her cousin.

"Where are we going?!" Jessie shouted against the wind and the thickness of Miss Pauling's helmet.

Miss Pauling turned her head slightly in an attempt to get the sound to hit Jessie. "Another corporation!" She paused. "You don't need to know the details!"

Jessie sat with the vague knowledge running through her head. "What are we doing there?!"

There was a pause. "Cleaning up!"

They arrived at a grey looking building that lacked any personality what-so-ever, compared to the building Jessie was in not too long ago. Miss Pauling didn't say anything, she just went right up to the building. Jessie followed silently, unaware of what she was getting into. They went through many long hallways that stretched out farther than expected. Finally they stopped at a room and Miss Pauling just briefly glanced at Jessie before entering. It was an odd glance that only lasted half a second, it was as if she were looking for a response but looked too early. Soon it became clear what response she was waiting for, because when Jessie entered the room she couldn't move. Much like her night in Sniper's shower – every muscle in her body was stiff and unmovable, her heart started racing but her lungs were frozen as well. What laid in the room were dead bodies. It didn't matter how many. Once there's more than three, the situation no longer requires you to focus enough to count out each dead body and then register all of that to come up with a final number.

"Jessie." Miss Pauling turned to the only other living girl in the room. "I know this might seem a little out of your job description but I really, really, really need your help me make these corpses unidentifiable."

Jessie wasn't listening to Miss Pauling anymore _. 'You've seen dead people before… pull yourself together.'_ Her eyes caught the stream of blood trailing down one body. ' _Yeah in a fucking casket! Not fucking fresh enough to continue bleeding.'_ She tried to blink but couldn't. _'Pull it together. Miss Pauling is talking to you. Pull it together._ ' She tried to listen but she couldn't focus on anything but the ambiance and her own inner thoughts. ' _This is nothing… employees at Black Widow did this all the time.'_ She tried to move... _'But I was never one of those employees._ ' Her fingers started to curl. _'I guess I will be now_.'

"Jessie!" Miss Pauling shouted snapping Jessie right out her own trance.

"WHAT?!" Jessie barked back forgetting who she was even with.

Pauling took a second to feel, process, and get over the shock of Jessie yelling at her. It was understandable that the woman would act this way. "I need your help or we are both fired."

Jessie started fidgeting, she was ready to do whatever she had to. "Okay. What do you want me to do?"

"I need you to dip their skulls into those barrels of acid along with their hands, name tags, and wallets."

At the very mention of that loaded phrase Jessie just blinked in utter shock. "Okay… why?"

"They are a mix of targets and random casualties. We can't have this company finding out that we targeted specific employees of theirs." Miss Pauling started taking the lids off the barrels.

"Okay…" She looked at the bodies and the barrels thinking about the instructions she was given. "How do I get their heads and hands in the barrels?"

Miss Pauling grabbed a bone saw off the table and handed it to Jessie. "You have to cut them off."

Jessie stared blankly and took the bone saw with a vise-like grip. "Okay."

Miss Pauling nodded at Jessie and made her way out of the room. Jessie immediately saw this and like someone with an attachment disorder – she immediately went into a panic at the thought of being alone.

"Where are you going?!" She low-key freaked out but still tried to seem composed.

"I have to find the information I came here for. We only have a few hours so I should be back down in two." Miss Pauling assured Jessie while standing in the door and as soon as there was an understandable pause, she left the room in a hurry.

Jessie turned to the work ahead of her. ' _They are just dead bodies._ ' She got closer to the pile and slowly reached out to touch one. ' _This isn't a horror movie. It won't grab you._ ' Her finger hovered above the pale lifeless skin as her eyes closed in preparation for the worst.

'… _Oh._ ' She opened her eyes to see her finger making contact with the corpse. She poked it a little harder and then furrowed her brows. ' _Okay… that's not so bad._ ' She lifted up its hand and released it high in the air, letting gravity take it to the ground. ' _Yeah… it's just a dead body._ ' A big sigh escaped her lungs at her new revelation, but once she looked down at her bone saw a ball formed at the back of her throat.

' _Probably best to start with a light corpse._ ' Jessie scanned the stack to see a petite female under a larger female. She grabbed the woman's arm and struggled to pull her out of the pile, but thankfully managed to do that and to drag her onto the clear floor. She stared at the limp body. ' _Head, hands, nametag, wallet, other stuff._ ' Her eyes scanned the woman and discovered an ID badge clipped onto her skirt. ' _Perfect!_ ' Jessie grabbed the tag and started reading it as she walked it over to the acid barrel. _'Becky Snow… Secretary…'_ She looked back at the body to see the same face as the one on the ID, except less rosy and with a blank expression.

"She's just a secretary… like me." Her hand tensed around the card as she closed her eyes tight. A quiet moment passed before Jessie's eyes shot open. With a stone expression she pocketed the ID and turned to the corpse. She checked the woman's pockets and concluded she had no more forms of ID on her. With stern confident movements Jessie picked up the woman's arm, placed the bone saw against her wrist, and started sawing as if it were a piece of wood.

Blood starting flowing, covering the floor, damaged skin, and Jessie's hand. Even though Jessie was disassociating herself from what was happening, it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the temperature and feeling of this woman's blood all over her hands. There was an ever-growing uneasy feeling rising in her stomach.

Finally the hand was off and Jessie was now holding it in her own hand. She brought it over to the barrel full of acid and slowly dipped it in – making sure not to create a dangerous splash. As she dipped it in, she could see the flesh and blood spreading through the liquid creating a mushy red foam at the top. Once the hand was in, that feeling in Jessie's stomach came to surface in the form of vomit. As a natural reflex she went to puke into something so she grabbed the sides of the barrel and hurled into the acid. A drop of acid splashed up and hit Jessie on the upper cheek making her thrash her head back. The drop started to burn through her skin as Jessie raced to the skin to wash it off. The quick relief of water washed away the acid, but it didn't wash away the mark. Staring at the running tap she impulsively stuck her face under the stream as if she were waterboarding herself. With the cold water numbing her face and keeping her from breathing, Jessie could finally narrow down her thoughts. ' _Keep going_.' She yanked her head out the sink and walked up to Becky the corpse.

Hours went by and Jessie had improved her body disfigurement process. Search and destroy every piece of ID, then remove the hands before the head because they produce less blood when severed. After the second body Jessie learned that too much blood equals very slippery, and very slippery equals no grip. She also learned to tread with caution when walking through blood because once again, blood is slippery and the fall butt first into the puddle of blood gave this away. Jessie was having trouble cutting off the fifth and final body's head since she had been sawing for 3 hours straight.

"We have to g- You're still not done?" Miss Pauling burst into the room and headed straight toward Jessie.

Jessie was so happy to see Miss Pauling, especially when she took the bone saw out of her hands.

"They know we are here now so we have to run as soon as I'm done with this." Miss Pauling kneeled down and took Jessie's place as she started to finish the job.

Jessie nodded as she watched Pauling casually rush through cutting the rest of the man's head off. The look in Pauling's eyes told Jessie that this moment right here, was not phasing the woman in any way. Finally it was severed and Miss Pauling rushed it over to the barrel only to slow down and dunk it in carefully.

"Alright! Let's go!"

Jessie nodded and attempted to sprint but slipped on the puddle of blood, falling straight on her back – winding her as her head slammed against the ground. Miss Pauling rolled her eyes and quickly brought Jessie back onto her feet, holding onto her hand as she ran through the building with Jessie in tow. As Jessie ran with Miss Pauling, she couldn't help remembering her times as a child and how they'd play together. The halls around them dissolved into fields of green, the florescent lights merged together to form one big warm sun, and Miss Pauling was 9 years old again – holding tight onto Jessie's hand.

"C'mon Jessie!" The child playfully screeched and smiled back at Jessie.

Jessie smiled as she continued to hold on and run.

Then she blinked.

"C'mon Jessie!" Miss Pauling was yelling back at Jessie.

The cement walls narrowed them to follow one path, florescent lights continued to flicker and produce an unnatural hum, Miss Pauling had a splotch of blood on her intense face.

They made it outside, jumped on Miss Pauling's scooter, and motored off. Dust and dreams behind them.

The purple scooter stopped in behind the base, its lights being the strongest source of illumination. Jessie, staring 10 yards into the distance, got off the scooter and slowly made her way to the door.

"It gets easier." Miss Pauling called out breaking the silence that Jessie didn't even know she was drowning in.

Jessie froze in front of the door, part of her wanted to look back in search for the empathy she craved from her family member. But this wasn't the family member she grew up with – that girl was gone, left dead with the other bodies back at that grey building. Her heart pulled and her naive, desperate, love barren shell begged her to look back. So she did, and what she saw was a faint bitter frown on Miss Pauling – a look that was trying to reflect how Jessie felt, but wasn't enough. She didn't want pity. Mayfield just turned her head and walked through the base's door.

She went to her room and stood in front of the mirror. She was covered in blood. Her knees and arms were coated in thickening blood that stuck into the creases in her skin. Her dress had blood spread throughout the fabric, mostly covering any hemline. Her dishevelled hair had solidifying drops of blood coming off of single strands. Jessie slowly stripped down, grabbed a towel and headed to the showers.

In the shower she watched the water below her never cease to be red. '…' Thoughts of the woman's ID card, unending puddles of blood, and Miss Pauling's attempt at consoling her, all came at Jessie in one flash. And in that flash she felt it all come out, the ball in the back of her throat and the uneasy feeling in her stomach. She sobbed violently, it wasn't audible but it rippled through her like tremors. The tears mixed in with the water and the blood, the noise of running water masked her uneven breaths. She held herself as she sunk down onto the shower floor. ' _It gets easier.'_

Jessie sat on the couch alone with her knees up to her chest. She took comfort in the fact that there were men sleeping comfortably in their beds just a couple rooms away. It was really the only comfort she was experiencing. She cried everything out, but those feelings still lived inside her, they were just watered down. In her hands she played with the corners of the ID card that she kept. She stared at the piece of plastic, taking in every single detail on it – especially the photo of Becky. ' _This dumb secretary got herself killed… because she was too stupid to know about the dangers in this world._ ' Her nose scrunched up as she held back an empty angry sob. ' _All you had to do was not come into work Becky… no one would have minded the secretary being gone for one day_.' All the watered down emotions left Jessie exhausted and empty. ' _You stupid girl_.'

 ** _Sniper_**

The Australian man threw on a button up that was half buttoned up, and headed out to the base to grab another book from the living room. He had finished this one a while ago but was finally in the mood to get another one. To his surprise, when he entered the living room, the little secretary was sitting on the couch with her back to the entrance. Perplexed with this odd display of behaviour he opened his mouth.

"Oi, why are you up so late?"

The woman made a quick motion as if she hid something and then titled her head a bit so he could just see the tip of her cheek.

"Oh… I can't go to sleep." She spoke out in a hoarse low tone.

' _That's bull._ ' He thought as he stared at her curled back.

"Why are you up?" She seemed to have enough confidence to keep up her thin act.

Sniper walked into the room past her and towards the bookshelf. "Getting' anotha book." He put the book that was in his hands away and started scanning the spines of the others to find something interesting.

"Oh. Do you like rocks?" The voice peeped out.

Sniper furrowed his brows at the books upon hearing her question, then turned to confirm what she had said. "Do I lioke wot?" Sniper almost stopped mid-sentence once he saw her face, she had that thousand mile stare, sunken in eyes and ghostly complexion. ' _Wot 'appen to ya lil Missy..._ ' But he remained composed as to not let her know that he could tell something was wrong.

Miss Mayfield took in a deep breath and let it out as she continued to stare into the distance. "Rocks and minerals… there's no plot or anything…" Her speech drifted off as her eyes finally snapped back to Sniper. "It just information on them and stuff." The muscles in her face attempted to smile, but they were too worn to complete the task.

Sniper just stared at this train wreck of a performance in front of him. It was too obvious something happened to her, but if she was attempting to hide it like this then it wouldn't be easy to get it out of her. "Ah… you read books about rocks a lot eh?" He started to inch his way closer, treating her like a scared animal.

She was too busy looking at her knees. "Yeah… I can lend you one if you want."

The Australian man made it to the couch and slowly started to sit down. "Sure, why not." Now sitting, he was at a distance where he could see the red spot on her cheek. "Miss Mayfield. Where were you today?" He stared at her as her expression ceased to change.

"I was helping Miss Pauling." The woman's eyes darted up to look at Sniper but then back down at her knees.

Sniper's face sank. "What'd you two do?" His casual tone turned into a slower and serious one, assuming that they both knew the façade was over.

Miss Mayfield stared long and hard at her knees as Sniper waited. Now he could finally see the small ticks of emotion that were starting to surface on her face. It started out as little twitches in her brow causing them to spastically furrow, and then finally her nose scrunched up as she opened her mouth and looked at the Sniper.

"I disfigured a pile of corpses until they were identifiable." She was so still, Sniper almost believed she was alright.

"Are you okay?" His eyes searched her for any signs of weakness.

She pressed her lips together, only opening them to utter a response. "I'm fine."

Sniper shook his head and leaned forward. "C'mon Miss Mayfield…"

They sat in silence, Sniper staring at the woman – hoping she would grab the line he just threw her. But she didn't, she just sat there staring deep into her knees. After a minute, Sniper sighed and stood up. There was no forcing her to tell him so he might as well leave her alone. He started to make his way to the exit.

"Wait." She spoke out causing Sniper to stop in the door frame. He turned to look at her and she was off the couch standing up. Sniper turned towards the woman causing her to recoil from her previous plea. He watched as her eyes searched for what to say.

"Can you just turn around and I'll turn around." She fiddled with her fingers, eyes scanning the man for some sort of response. When all she got was a slightly confused face she remembered that she probably had to explain. "It's this thing my mom would do with me... it's so we can't see each other's faces. That way it's easier to say hard things." She then waited desperately for an accepting response.

Sniper sucked on one of his teeth thinking about her offer then nodded. "Ol'rioght." He then turned around on the spot, his back now facing her. She did the same, and they waited. All Sniper could hear was the little sounds she was making as a result of her trying to get her own words out. But finally she did.

"The first body I cut up was this woman… Just a normal woman." The emotion is her voice was being controlled, but she still took long pauses in between sentences.

"Her ID said she was a secretary." Sniper could hear the break in her voice at the word 'secretary' and there was a long pause of silence. He stayed quiet, waiting for her to continue.

"Sniper…" She whispered out in a desperate plea. "I don't want to end up like her." Miss Mayfield's voice was heavy with desperation now. Sniper could hear her breathing, and her attempts to control her breath as to not let out a sob. His instinct was to turn around, but he knew better.

"She died so her dead body could mask the true murder of a real target! She wasn't killed because she was a threat or because she knew something." Miss Mayfield's voice started to get louder as her rant began.

" _She_ killed her as a cover up." Sniper noticed the enunciation in the word 'she' and he rightfully assumed Miss Pauling.

Miss Mayfield took in a sharp breath – one that loaded her up for the shot. "And that stupid secretary probably didn't stand a chance. She probably didn't struggle. She probably either complied till she was shot or was just completely blindsided because she was too naïve to believe she could ever be in any danger." The sounds of her sucking air through her teeth made Sniper feel heavy.

"Sniper..." Another whispered plea came trembling out of her lips. "I don't want to be that woman."

"I want to be ready when someone is going to kill me. I want to make their task a living hell because I…" She paused, tensing her face as she tried to get rid of the stinging sensation in her eyes. "…I don't want to die like that."

"I don't want to be pitiful." Her voice shook but her statement was delivered in a firm way.

The strain of emotion in her voice was so discernible it made Sniper turn around. He slowly closed the distance and placed his arm on her shoulder. She winced so hard when he made contact with her, it only ensured him that she needed help.

"Oi'm not a psychiatrist. But Oi am a mercenary, and if there's one thing Oi can do for ya it's to help ya defend yourself." The woman beneath his hands shook in relief. "Jus' meet me outside tomorra an' we'll get started." He squeezed her shoulder firmly as he pressed his lips together to get rid of the grimace on his face.

She nodded.

Sniper let go of her and backed out of the room, unable to give her anything else. While in the hall he let out a deep breath.

Jessie stood there for a while, just shaking until her body was so tired of tensing up. Finally she went to her room, and got into bed. She closed her eyes, looking forward to the day where she would not be this pitiful woman anymore. With that, Jessie fell sleep.

Beep beep…

Beep beep…

Mayfield woke up. Read, got dressed, French bun, ate, and went outside to Sniper's van. The morning air was cool against her bare legs, and the bright sun was blinding her eyes. The wide open desert sent a shiver up her spine, making her quicken her pace. Now standing in front of the man's home, she reached out and knocked on the door. Without more than a second gone by, the door swung open to reveal the tall man dressed in his full uniform, and with a mug of coffee in hand.

"Good morning, lil Miss Mayfield." He looked down at her with a cheeky smile.

"Good morning, Sniper." She arched her neck back just to make eye contact with him.

"Ah, lemme just finish me coffee an' we'll get started." He turned back inside his camper and downed his coffee, placing the empty cup in his sink. Mayfield watched, trying to avoid looking at the vastness of her environment.

"O'lright…" He announced loudly as he stepped out of the campervan. He shut the door and started walking farther into the nothingness of the desert. Mayfield followed. "So what do you know so far? Do ya have any gun trainin'?" He asked her over his shoulder.

"I forged a gun safety certificate." Mayfield admitted without shame.

Sniper nearly stopped at the mention of this blasphemy, but continued on while Mayfield continued to follow. Suddenly he stopped and turned around, nearly causing Mayfield to smash into him.

"Ever got in a foight?" He looked down at the woman who was now inches away from him. Mayfield furrowed her brows and squinted her eyes, unsure if she heard him right.

"Sniper… look at me." She strained her neck to look him in the eye – further proving her point.

He looked her up and down, slowly. Finally stopping at her eyes. "Yeah." He huffed.

Mayfield rose and eyebrow as she placed her hand on her, now risen, hip. "Do I look like I get into fights?"

Sniper rolled his eyes. "Jus' cause your smoll doesn't mean you don't fight." He placed his hands on his hips mirroring Mayfield. "Look at koalas, tiny little buggars fight all the time." His exhale was an amused one – one that was made to lighten the mood.

Mayfield enjoyed the cute idea of koalas fighting, but she was still frustrated about the poor simile. Her frown scrunched up towards her nose as she rose her eyebrows at him. Sniper sighed at her disapproving response to his joke, and dropped his hands.

"Okay, you're smoll. Let's be honest, most of your opponents are gonna be bigga than you." He bluntly admitted the facts. "'Oweva, this means they will underestimate you, which will be your advantage." Sniper looked at the small hint of hope that crossed Mayfield's face, and carried on with his point. "Now, Oi ain't tha best at fioghtin, but Oi've learned a thing or two growin up in Australia." He tapped on the side of his face – where the jaw connects to the skull. "Loike this."

Mayfield furrowed her brows in confusion. To her surprise, Sniper took her jaw in his hand and tapped on the side of her jaw with his other hand. "This is the noight noight button. You want to knock anyone out – you gotta hit here as hard as you can." He released his grip on her, leaving Mayfield still slightly shocked.

"What if I don't hit that spot hard enough." She rubbed the spot on her face, looking at Sniper.

He laughed in response. "Then they'll hit you back harder." His voice dipped into a bit of a growl as he playfully retorted.

"Right." Mayfield's lips rolled inward as she pressed them tightly together.

"Here, punch my hand an Oi'll tell ya what's hard enough." Sniper lifted up his open hand, not even bothering to get into a readying stance.

"Okay." Mayfield shrugged and threw a half-hearted punch at Sniper's hand. A part of her really didn't want to actually injure him. Sniper smirked at her first attempt.

"Don't be afraid love. Oi'll be fine." His canine tooth was exposed thanks to his amused smirk.

Mayfield pursed her lips together, got into a stance, and winded back her hand to deliver a more structured punch. Sniper didn't flinch.

"C'mon! Harder!" His voice became slightly louder as his tone became more demanding.

The woman now felt under pressure, realising she wasn't strong enough to fulfill Sniper's demands. But she threw another punch, just hoping it would be enough.

Sniper didn't budge. "Miss Mayfield, harder! Hit me harder!" He finally yelled at her.

How many times had Miss Mayfield been yelled at in her life? How many times had she wished she could just punch them in the face, but had to push it all down and top it off with a polite smile? How many fucking times had she been the one to apologize and carry on? Too many. With a scrunched up face and heated blood, Miss Mayfield sucked in a breath, cranked back her whole arm and threw her fist, arm, and body into the punch. The contact between her fist and Sniper's hand caused his arm to crumple towards him, making him catch his step. After she followed through with the swing she stood up right to see Sniper rubbing at his wrist. He then looked up at her.

"Bloody 'ell. Ya nearly popped my hand out its socket." He chuckled as he rolled his wrist. Mayfield's angry face dropped into a passive one.

"Shi- I mean, shoot, are you okay?" She stepped closer and reached her hand out to hold his injured one, but stopped mid-way. The corner of his mouth rose, charmed by the woman's quick change of character. He rolled his wrist again and then used that hand to grab her shoulder.

"Of course Oi am. Ya did good. That's how hard ya have to hit if ya want to knock em out." He squeezed her shoulder as Mayfield stared at him. Her eyes flickered to his wrist and back to him.

"Enough to dislocate your wrist?" She bit down her smirk.

Sniper's half smile grew into a full one. "Enough to dislocate me wrist." He nodded and removed his hand from her shoulder. "Oi'll teach ya a move that will work best for your size."

They spent the rest of the morning fighting. Sniper taught her some take down moves and they practiced those until he felt as though she knew them well enough. It took a while for Mayfield to figure out one move – she kept grabbing onto his wrist when she was supposed to grab his forearm. Eventually she got it. By the time they finished, it was breakfast time.

"Ya did good Miss Mayfield. Keep practicin that and really get it into ya muscle memory." Sniper started walking towards his camper, stopping at his door.

"Thanks." Mayfield nodded with a proud look on her face. She started walking towards the base but then stopped and turned around. "Are you gonna come inside to eat?" She started walking backwards.

"Nah, I already ate." He opened the door to his camper as he continued to face Mayfield.

She tilted her head and stopped in her tracks, thinking about what he did before they started training. "But… was that coffee your breakfast."

Sniper's face dropped as he became defensive. "Yeah, and that's all Oi need."

Mayfield put up her hands. "Okay." She then nodded and continued walking backwards. "I'll see you tomorrow at the same time right?" Her small smile warmed up Sniper's facial muscles, causing him to relax.

"Nah, ya can actually come drop by tonight for a quick lil' lesson." He stepped in his campervan and turned to look at her. "That O'lrioght?"

"Uh." Thoughts of work and time limits were processed through Mayfield's mind as she determined if she'd have the time. Finally an answer came. "Yeah. I can make that work." Her small smile grew as she nodded to him.

"Ol'rioght, see ya then lil Missy." Sniper nodded back as he watched her leave.

"See ya." She waved and then turned to walk normally.

The smile from her face didn't fade one bit throughout the day. Mayfield was happy that she had found someone to help her – someone that wasn't a total psychopath. She hesitated to feel overjoyed knowing that anything could ruin her happiness. But still, she couldn't help feeling good about meeting Sniper. ' _He's a really nice guy… a little quiet. But nice.'_


	5. Chapter 5: Love Trap

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 **Guest – Haha, I'm glad you like my story! I'm beginning to like it too :P**

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 **Look at me… not working on any of my projects and instead writing out this story. I'd be disappointed in myself if it weren't for the fact that I'm at least making something and not just watching YouTube. Internal struggles aside, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

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Mayfield had just finished talking to Engie about what to do with the pile of trash - the rubbish that was supposed to be her tent. She offered taking it to the dump, but Engie explained that the dump refused to take any more of their waste after some sort of biochemical incident. After coming up with no solution they parted ways.

The busy woman emptied out another filing cabinet and had been going through the unorganized papers that came from it. Her reading and filing slowed as her mind was busy replaying how Sniper taught her how to defend herself. She had spent 10 minutes re-reading one sentence because after each re-read she realised she wasn't even paying attention to what was on the paper. ' _God damn… all this training is really jumbling my mind right now. I need to take a break and just think about everything my mind wants to._ '

Mayfield was having trouble processing all the events that had happened to her so she decided to let her mind run its course and just go through everything – that way it could organize it. ' _I can't focus because…_ ' She sat down with a huff. '… _Because of my training! It's new and foreign to me so I must be in shock_.' Her mind tried reasoning why she was so scatterbrained this evening.

' _Or it's in shock because of what I had to do_.' Her thoughts wandered down a dark path causing Mayfield to stare through her desk. Images of the blood and foamy acid flashed in front of her and she quickly squeezed her eyes shut trying to pull her train of thought off those rails. Her eyes shot open looking for some other form of stimulus to take her mind of her dark thoughts. She heard her watch tick and darted her attention to what it had to say. It was 7:30 – Sniper would be back by now. Perfect, this was just the distraction she needed. Without finishing the work she had started for the day, she was off to Sniper's camper for another lesson, even thought it was fairly earlier than he had said.

"'Ello there lil Missy." Sniper called out from the top of his campervan.

"Oh! Hey." Mayfield looked up with her hand against her face to block the setting sun. She looked at the lean man sprawled out on his lawn chair fiddling with some rope in his hand. This sight alone eased the depressing thoughts she had not too long ago. "What are you doing up there?" She laughed.

Sniper continued to stare at the sky. "Jus' practicin' me knots." He cocked his head at her, probably due to her early arrival. "Ready to get at it again?" The man stood up from his lawn chair and started making his way down the ladder.

She watched as he climbed down, a pleased look growing on her face. "I sure am." Once he made it down he turned to face her.

"O'lroight. Now that you know 'ow to fight with your fists, Oi'm gonna teach ya 'ow to fight with a knoife." He then opened the campervan's door and entered it.

"Oh wow. I've been promoted already?" Mayfield shouted to him while he was inside.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get a big head jus yet." He scoffed as he stepped back outside with a big knife in hand. "'ere" He held the knife by the blade and handed it out towards Mayfield. She took the knife from his hands and started to examine it. ' _This can't be categorised as a knife… this is a fucking sword._ ' Sniper smirked at the woman while she was in awe of his weapon.

"Try to stab me." His words took her right out of her trance. Her eyes darted towards him.

"Sniper… I know this worked with punching but I really doubt it's gonna work with stabbing." Mayfield nervously chuckled.

"I won't get hurt." He tilted his head, offended that she would assume he could be injured by her. "Go on, stab me." He smiled enough to show his canine tooth – it was really becoming his signature look.

Mayfield look at the waiting Sniper, and then at the blade in her hand. . _'I'd have to sign the injury papers anyways seeing as I'm the secretary.'_ She sighed as she shrugged. ' _He's a trained mercenary… he'll be fine.'_ She tried to trust this man's word while also reassuring herself that he knew what he was doing.

"Alright…" She tightened her grip on the knife's handle and took in a breath trying to calm the adrenaline that was starting to pump into her bloodstream.

Mayfield thrusted the knife forwards towards Sniper's chest. Before the blade could even get near him – Sniper had moved out of the way, grabbed Mayfield's wrist and took the knife out of her hand. In another instant he had spun her around and pinned her against the campervan with the blade against her neck.

Jessie was in shock. She didn't even know what happened, all she knew was that this man had her one wrist pinned and a knife pressed against her throat. For some reason her free hand had instinctively grabbed his fore arm – a last act to stop the knife from going any further. The adrenaline that was seeping into her bloodstream was now releasing waves of it to her entire body. She was on alert with a heaving chest and wide eyes.

"See… 'appens quick eh?" He growled out, making her aware of how close his face was. The only information Jessie was taking in was the stubble on his face and the way his lip curled up to match the tone of his voice. She could see through the tint of his sunglasses and make out that his eyes were locked on her.

"Knoife fights are very close." Sniper leaned his face in towards hers, his breath grazing her cheek. "You can't be afraid to get close." His body pressed harder against hers, she was sure that he could feel her little heart racing. "Cause if you ain't the one gettin close… that means _they_ are." He whispered the last bit in a low growl, the vibrations and deep sounds sending an electric shock through Mayfield's body.

Her lips were parted – only because that's how far her jaw could drop due to the knife. "O-okay…" The words barely came out. Sniper's wicked side smile turned into an entertained grin as he broke out into a chuckle and stepped back.

"Heh heh, 'ere." He held the knife out to her just like before. "Oi'll show ya 'ow to do it." The corners of his mouth lifted his cheeks as he gave a warm look to Mayfield. Miss Mayfield blinked a couple times and shut her mouth, his change of attitude broke her out of her state of shock bringing a confused smile to her face. ' _That was... quite a rush_.' She reached forward and took the knife from his hands.

"Okay. Show me."

Sniper spent the next hour teaching Miss Mayfield how to disarm some with a knife. He let her practice until the sun was nearly set. Finally, Mayfield was beginning to become more confident with the move as she started to increase the speed of how she performed it.

"Ol'roight. One more go. An' then we'll meet up again tomorrow."

"Okay."

They set themselves up in their positions – Sniper had the knife and Mayfield stood in front of him. They stood in silence for a solid three seconds before Sniper lunged forward, thrusting the knife towards Mayfield's stomach. He moved quicker than before but Mayfield did as she was taught and got out of the way, grabbed his wrist and took his knife. She now held the knife against the man's neck. They froze in their positions, both growing smiles of accomplishment. She couldn't help but soften as she stared at his face, he was so fierce looking with that wicked grin. Jessie blinked and relaxed out of her solid position. They both let out a little chuckle as the tension faded. But Sniper's chuckle was cut short when he glanced down at her hand.

"Aw 'ell. 'old on Miss Mayfield, you're bleedin." Sniper went back into his van as Jessie looked down at her hand.

It was the hand used to grab his wrist, apparently it had come in contact with the blade at some point. Her body was immobilized as she glared at the blood seeping from her hand. Flashes of the dead bodies flooded her mind causing her body to go into shock. Her other hand dropped the knife as her eyes stayed locked on the wound. ' _The blood… so much blood. Why won't it stop? Why does it always find me?'_ Jessie started going into a motionless panic as she watched the blood pool in her hand.

"'ere ya go." A damp cloth was placed over the pool of blood and wrapped around her hand. His voice and the stinging sensation worked her out of her panic attack. She no longer could see the blood, for it was covered by the cloth and Sniper's hand.

"Oi'm surprised that didn't 'appen sooner." Sniper chuckled as he tied the cloth tighter. "There. Ya can clean it up more once you're inside. But that should do for now."

He placed his hand on her shoulder causing Mayfield to break her gaze on the cloth and bring her eyes back up to Sniper. "Ya did a good job today." His aviators were gone, giving Jessie a chance to see the proud look in his eyes. He patted her shoulder and then started walking towards his campervan again, turning around to face her once he was at the door. "Same toime again tomorrow roight?"

"Y-yeah." Mayfield shook herself out of her daze and smiled back at him. "Goodnight Sniper."

"G'nite Miss Mayfield." He adorned that side smile that only exposed his canine tooth. Jessie felt her knees go warm and head get light. She immediately started walking back to the base trying to make that sensation wear off.

Jessie made it back to her room, got ready to sleep and slipped into her bed. She laid there with unorganized buzzing thoughts. Her chest felt warm and her body was filling with what felt like light airy liquid infused with cheerful glee. She thought about how earlier in the day when she was just happy to have a friend, but her body was saying Sniper might be something more than that. ' _Oh god. What am I thinking? No… he was just supposed to be my pal – someone that could have my back.'_ Her mind flashed images of Sniper's side grin that always exposed his canine tooth. Mayfield bit her bottom lip as her train of thought naturally visited how close they were that night – the way he whispered lowly to her. ' _Shit! No! Shit, shit, shit._ ' She literally shook her head in an attempt to stop her mind from conjuring those images and memories. In a desperate attempt to push these feelings down, she thought about work and organising. But then thoughts of Sniper's file came up, firing up a motivation for her to want to read his file and everything about him. ' _No! Dammit! I can't even focus on work!_ '

Mayfield knew what was happening, and she knew that she could not focus her thoughts until she had some way to release them. She needed someone to talk to, someone that could hear her out and maybe listen to her girlish feelings. In an attempt to find a suitable person to talk to, her brain scanned every man she had met at the base (and of course stopped on Sniper for a full 5 minutes), until she was left with one name.

"Scout!" Mayfield knocked on the young man's door. It was 9 am – a time she assumed Scout would be awake by. She stood there patiently waiting for a response, but her unease was causing her to rock back and forth on her heels anxiously.

She knocked on the door again. "You in there?" Her hope that the boy woke up at a reasonable time was fading.

"Oh, so ya final decided to talk to me again?" A voice called out from inside the room, it did not open the door for her, nor did it invite her in.

Mayfield's eyes casted down at the bottom of the door as she remembered her last time with Scout. ' _I left him alone in the kitchen. He should understand my position… but I get if he's mad at me.'_ Her eyes trailed up the door. "I'm sorry about that Scout! What Spy sad really got to me and I'm sorry that I stopped talking to you." She looked pleadingly at the door as if it were Scout.

There was a long silence and Mayfield reached out to the door.

"Please Scout." She pleaded one last time, with only a small hint of desperation in her voice. Again, there was silence.

"I'll forgive you if you do one thing for me." The voice spoke from behind the door, now seeming louder.

Mayfield smiled at the fact that he answered, but frowned upon processing his potential request. "I still won't let you contact Miss Pauling."

"Dammit!" The door was hit from the inside, making Mayfield back up a bit.

Mayfield sighed. "Is there anything else?" After some vacant air time, Mayfield had assumed she had lost any deal she could have made with the Scout. She then started to turn around to head back to her office.

"Yeah sure." The voice called out causing her to stop mid turn. She turned back to face the door, waiting for his demands. "Tell me ya name."

She thrusted her head forward close to the door, unsure if she heard him right. "My name? Why?"

There was a grunt from behind the door. "I don't know – maybe so I can actually know you. It ain't fair that you know everything about us and we don't know nuthin about you."

Mayfield gave a peculiar look as she thought about his statement. ' _I don't know everything about them. I guess that's not the point though._ ' Her lips parted. ' _I wonder if I'm even allowed to share my name seeing as how they don't use their real names._ ' "My name is Jessie. Jessie Mayfield." She answered him regardless.

The door swung open to expose a confused Scout. "Jessie? What kind of a name is that?" His confused look dissolved into an amused one and he started laughing. "Jessie sounds like a boy's name." Before she could interrupt him, he carried on. "I was expectin' somthin' like Nancy or Monica." He raised a brow.

Jessie absorbed all the insults and just pushed down any offended responses she might give him. "Nope… It's just Jessie. Sorry to disappoint you with my name reveal. Now can I come in?"

Scout snorted and stepped aside. "Yeah."

Mayfield entered the boy's room trying to find a spot to sit since every surface area was covered in clutter. As she stood around, Scout closed the door and flopped down onto his bed.

"So why ya wanna talk to me now?" He spoke as he looked up towards the ceiling, then he faced her with a cocky smirk. "You finally figure out that you're in love with me? And that that's why you won't let me talk to Miss Pauling?" He sat up, playfully toying with her.

Jessie couldn't even be offended because he's pretty close to the truth – just wrong about which person. "Not exactly…" She avoids eye contact by looking around the room. "I needed someone to talk to." Her eyes spotted a chair for her to sit in so she made her way to use it.

Scout rolled his eyes. "Oh boy. And ya came to me because no one else wanted ta listen to ya." There was bitterness in his tone, but that didn't matter because the whole statement itself threw Jessie off.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What? No. You're the first person I've picked to talk to."

Upon hearing that, Scout's face lit up. "Really?!"

Jessie shook her head in a stunned manner with wide eyes. "Yes!"

"Oh sweet!" The boy relaxed in his sitting position, getting comfy and then focusing all his attention onto Jessie. "Alright, whadaya wanna talk about?"

It was time now, time to finally get all the feelings out to a third party. Her throat went dry as she hesitated to get it out. "Um… you know how you like Miss Pauling?"

"You mean how Miss Pauling likes me." He corrected her.

"Wha- Yeah sure." She brushed aside his comment, not bothering to get into the details on the metaphor she was about to make. "Um… Do you know Sniper?" Her eyes casted down as she got closer to the core of her confession.

"Are you gonna say that Miss Pauling likes Sniper?!" Scout's nostrils flared as he shot forward on his bed.

All embarrassment went away as Jessie's eyes darted up to look at the Scout. "No! No, no, no. This has nothing to do with Miss Pauling!" She attempted to reassure him.

"Then why the hell did ya bring her up?" His anger faded but was replaced with aversion.

"No Scout! I was trying to explain –"

"Jesus, ya gave me a scare there." He had cut her off. "Oh uh, not cause I didn't think Miss Pauling would like anyone else but me-" He was trailing off in an attempt to correct any misunderstandings that would harm his image.

"Scout-" Mayfield tried to get his attention, but he talked over her.

"Cause of course she likes me." He continued to sooth his almost damaged ego.

"Scout-" She was now getting frustrated, the topic was derailing quickly and she had to fix it.

"There was never any doubt that she likes m-"

"I think I'm falling for Sniper!" Jessie finally shouted the blatant truth at him to shut him up and to get her point across. She relaxed into her chair, watching as Scout's shocked expression started to mix with bewilderment.

"What?" His expression didn't change and Jessie didn't say another word.

Scout continued to stare at her as his eyes scanned her face. "You. Like… Sniper?" The shock on his face was wearing off, leaving just a confused look.

"Yes." She nodded affirmatively.

"The tall Australian guy with the hat and the sunglasses?" The confused look was fading as the corners of his mouth started to slowly go up.

"Yes." She furrowed at him wondering why he wasn't understanding.

"The one who shoots people from miles away because he can't fight them?"

"Well…" She tried to object as she realised he wasn't confused anymore and that he was probably fucking with her.

"The man who pisses in jars and throws it at people?" Scout's grin was wide as he continued to question her.

"Wait – what?" She didn't know if she heard his last statement right, but her question was never answered.

"You like Sniper?" Scout stared Mayfield dead in the eyes waiting for her to confirm.

Mayfield rolled her eyes and shook her fists at her side. "Yes!" She yelled at him, annoyed at his little game.

Scout continued to stare at her for what felt like an hour but was probably just ten seconds. He then threw back his head.

"HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHA AHHH MAN! THIS IS GOLD!" Scout flew backwards onto his bed, rolling around as he continued laughing. "YOU LIKE THE CAMPAVAN LIVIN JAR PISSER!" His laughing continued as Jessie started to grow a displeased look on her face. "OH MY GOD!" The hysterical boy started to simmer down and sit up, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. Mayfield just watched him, irritated with the humiliation she was receiving.

"Ahh… alright." He composed himself. "So ya want me to help ya get into his campavan?" His brow rose upon delivering his offer.

Jessie was shocked to hear him say such a thing. "What? No! I just thought I could get some advice from you, since you know him." She fiddled with her fingers.

"Advice? Ha! Jessie…" He got up and grabbed both of her shoulders, staring her in the eyes. "I am expert in the art of pickin up chicks. I can do more than give you advice, I can get that Australian loner to like you so easily." He displayed a smug expression and he put his hands on his hips – striking some sort of heroic affirmative pose in front of Mayfield.

Another offer meant another deal, but Mayfield had nothing left to barter with. "That's nice Scout… but I still can't let you talk to Miss Pauling."

"What?" The boy snapped out of his pose and took a couple seconds to process the meaning of what she said. His nostril went up in disgust. "Not everything has ta be a deal. I ain't like the Spy, you don't have to blackmail me to get me to do something." Scout crossed his arms, offended that she made that sort of assumption about him.

Mayfield cocked her head to the side with wide eyes. "You want to do this?"

"Yeah, why not. Got nothin' betta to do." He scoffed, looking down at her. "But I'm the one who's in charge of this operation." He almost appeared menacing but his youthful face betrayed him.

"Okay." She agreed with his command and sighed – finally feeling relief from confessing the truth. "So what do we do?" Her face lit up, they were on the cusp of starting something fun.

"We start with plan A. Plan A never fails…" Scout paced in his room, unable to keep still.

"What's plan A?" Her eyes tracked the patrolling boy.

He stopped in his tracks and pointed at Jessie. "You get a bucket of chicken…"

"No." The words escaped her mouth without being processed by her brain – something that rarely happened. Just the mention of something so stupid triggered her body to revolt and say 'no'.

"Oh c'mon Jessie, you're talking to the master pickup artist here." His frame sunk as he slanted his head at her trying to persuade her.

"Hmm" She ignored his complaint and started scanning the room as she thought about what to do. Her eyes landed on the headset on Scout's night table. A corner of her mouth raised as a plan started growing in her mind. "Since you're the master pick up artist…" She stood up and grabbed the headset. "…how about you tell me what to say to him." She put on the headset and looked at Scout.

"Oh yeah, uh that was plan B." Scout attempted to appear a step ahead of her.

Jessie ignored him as she shifted the headset to fit properly on her head. ' _Scout should know a thing or two about his co-worker. They have been working together for years…_ ' Jessie's face scrunched up as she turned to look at Scout. ' _Those files are so old… yet this boy looks so young._ ' Her thoughts were interrupted as Scout piped up.

"We gotta name our mission." He grinned excitedly at her. "But don't worry, I've already come up with the perfect name – Operation: _Downunder._ " His eyebrows waggled up and down.

Jessie blinked rapidly as she thought about how silly and dumb the name was. She paused before she offered her own opinion. "How about Operation: Love Trap."

"God no. That's a pansy name." Scout's nose scrunched up in disgust.

Jessie put her hands up. "Okay fine – Operation: Downunder, it is." She scoffed upon hearing herself say the name out loud.

Scout lit up, he was quite the expressive one with his rollercoaster of expressions. "Yes!" He fist pumped the air and then put all his focus back on Jessie by holding her shoulders. "Alright, now might I advise you that the bucket of chicken can really help-"

"No." Her body responded before her mind could even create its own calculated answer.

"Okay." He let go of her to put up his hands.

"Alright. Lets do it."

They nodded and set out to Jessie's office. Before they split up, Mayfield stopped Scout. "So since there are no deals between us. What's your real name?" Her face softened upon uttering the personal question.

Scout scratched the back of his neck as he looked down. "Heh wow, I almost forgot it." He then looked up at her. "It's Jeremy." His face softened too, emphasizing his youthful innocence.

"Jeremy… that's a nice name."

"Heh, can't say the same for you!" He teased as he walked off to accomplish his part of the mission.

' _Jeremy… Jeremy…_ ' Mayfield's eyes sunk inside her head as the realisation dawned upon her. ' _Jeremy._ ' She dashed inside her office and pulled out Spy's file to find the paternity test. Her eyes scanned the page hoping that she wouldn't see that name. But there it was… the only information not redacted from the page. ' _This… this is really weird._ ' She sank into her chair. ' _I wonder if he even knows._ '

"Okay, the owl is headed the nest. I repeat – the owl is headed to your nest." Scout's voice spoke into her ear from the headset, startling her to close the file and stand up.

Baffled by what the hell he said, she quickly pulled down the microphone so she could speak into it. "What?!"

"Sniper's coming!" The voice cleared up the confusion.

"Oh!" Jessie threw the mic piece above her head. Sniper was coming up to her office. Suddenly it hit Jessie that this was the stupidest plan on earth. Her heart started racing as she thought about how Sniper was headed towards her. It became apparent to her that she was just standing still in the middle of her office. ' _Oh god, look busy!_ ' She quickly threw open a drawer on the nearest filing cabinet, pretending to scan its contents.

"He's there."

Mayfield froze. Heart pumping in her ears. Hands cold yet sweaty. Mouth dry. She spun to look at the door to see exactly what she expected – Sniper.

"Hey Sniper, what's up?" Mayfield successfully acted casual.

Sniper leaned against the door frame. "Scout said you needed me?" He tilted his head up, looking at her from under his hat.

"Oh yeah…"Jessie pulled out a file. ' _Shit. He didn't even bother to come up with a reason why I need him here._ ' "I've been trying to figure out…" She slowly made her way to her desk, eyes darting back and forth trying to come up with a reason for him to be here. She spotted the tax write off papers. "... what you guys have done with 500 sandwiches?" Her face looked like she was even confused about what she said.

Sniper didn't move. "Wot."

Jessie could feel her face burning but carried on with her lie. "500 sandwiches were written off as a business payment and I was just wondering what you guys have done with that many sandwiches." Her hand went on her hip as she felt like she actually wanted to know the answer.

Sniper opened his mouth to speak but the wrong voice was heard. "That fatso eats them all that's what happens to them." The Boston accent rang in her ear but she tried to tune it out to hear what the Sniper was saying.

"Oi assume the team eats 'em. Mostly Heavy." He shrugged.

Jessie nodded but stopped when the white noise crackled again. "Only Heavy."

She tried holding back her reaction to Scout's comment and continued holding a conversation with Sniper.

"Uh. Eh. Does Medic always do the paper work around here? Most of these forms are signed by him." She tilted her head to the side as she leaned forward on her desk.

"Okay now tell him you like his crooked glasses." The order was delivered and Jessie quickly processed it into a more appropriate comment.

Now lost in the conversation Jessie cut off Sniper before he could answer her previous question. "Hey, I really like your sunglasses? Where did you get them?" She smiled at him as she actually took in what his sunglasses looked like. They were a nice shiny shade of orange that complimented the rest of his outfit. ' _That outfit of his…'_ Mayfield was getting lost in her dreamy thoughts.

"Now tell him you give the best head." The voice penetrated through all of her feelings.

"What?! No!" Shocked by what he said, she stood upright in offense to his words.

A confused Sniper stood upright as well, no longer leaning casually against the doorframe. "''Cuse me?"

Realising what she had done, Jessie went into damage control mode. "Oh, sorry – I was just thinking about how I'm going to organize the weapon purchase receipts." She looked down at the papers on her desk that were neatly placed into piles.

Sniper looked at the organized papers. "Riote…"

Jessie looked at his confused face with embarrassment. ' _This went downhill quick_.'

"Jessie! Did ya hear me?! Ask him if he wants to **do it**."

"No." There her body went again – responding before her mind could approve of the response.

"You alroigt lil Missy?" Sniper was now a couple steps closer to her, his confused face turning into a worried look.

"He calls you 'lil Missy'?! Ha! That's the gayest shit I've ever heard!" Scout started laughing in her ear.

' _This is over_.' She yanked the headset off of her ears and slammed it down on the desk.

"I'm sorry. I was getting some weird feedback on my headset. It was hurting my head." She rubbed her temple as she acted out her words.

"Mhm." He stopped moving any closer to her and just nodded. "Do ya need anymore 'elp?" He looked at the papers on her desk and then back at her.

She forced a smile, just desperately wanting to get out of this awkward situation. "No. I think I'm fine now. Thanks Sniper."

"If ya need to talk Oi'm always around." He nodded to her and started backing out.

"Thanks." She called out to his back.

She watched him leave and then hung her head between her arms that were firmly planted against the desk. The headset laid below her gaze, and a small noise could be heard coming from the earphones. After focusing on the noise she realised it was laughing. ' _You little…_ ' Her face scrunched up as she grabbed the headset and stomped out of the room. ' _You little shit_.' Whether he messed her up on purpose or whether it was just an accident, Jessie was fuming mad regardless. Thoughts of Sniper's confused face send waves of cringe rippling through her body. ' _Oh my god, I must have looked so stupid._ '

Finally she reached the living room, and there lay the Scout – laughing on the couch as he struggled to sit up. He settled his laughter down to address Jessie's entrance.

"Yo! Haha! What a train wreck!"

Jessie threw the headset at him, but the impact didn't matter because he was still laughing.

"What the hell was that?!" A swearword passed Jessie's lips in front of another human being – something that hadn't happened in many years.

"Hahaha! Ah! Oh god! That was freakin hilarious!" Scout was hanging off the couch as he clutched his stomach.

Mayfield watched as the boy basically mocked her – laughing at her misfortune and possibly being the cause of said misfortune. Her fists balled up and every frustrating moment in her life had risen to fuel her anger. She glared at the Scout, her body was so tense it was nearly shaking. Her eyes located his skinny neck and her body sprung.

"Scout! You asshole!" She lurched forward on top of the Scout, wrapping her hands around his neck and pushing down on what she felt like was his windpipe.

But there was no affect.

"HAHA! Are you really trying to strangle me right now?!" He opened his gleeful eyes to see Miss Mayfield with her hands around his neck. He calmed down just a bit to give her some advice. "Here, you need to wrap your hands around this part of my neck." He brought up his own hands and adjusted her grip on his neck. She furrowed her brows as she took in the knowledge and worked off of it.

"Yeah like tha-" With a firm grip she finally started silencing the Scout. "Jessie… I can't breathe!" The wide eyed Scout started tapping on her hands in an effort to make her stop.

"That's the point!" She shook his neck a little, still gripping it just as hard as before.

"What iz going on in 'ere." They both turned their heads to see Spy enter the room. Mayfield was still choking Scout while Scout was still struggling to breathe.

"Spy! Help… me…" The boy reached out to the Spy with one hand.

Spy reciprocated by walking over and overlooking the spectacle. "Mademoiselle, might I advise that you press you thumbs in here and here." He reached over her and moved her thumbs upward into the hollows of his neck.

"Spy- wha- no-!" Once in place, she pressed her thumbs down harder. Finally, the spastic Scout's movements began to slow down as he started to go unconscious.

"Good job." Spy grabbed her wrist – a hint that is was time to stop. Mayfield let go of Scout's neck but also ripped her wrist out of Spy's grip. Spy didn't react to this gesture and just readjusted the cigarette in his mouth. "Now, why are you strangling ze Scout?" He asked as if he were just bored and curious.

Mayfield glared at the unconscious boy and then back to Spy. "He made me look like a fool in front of Sniper."

"Why would you care about what ze bushman zinks?" The suited man raised a brow.

"Cause I…" She sighed, unable to gather enough strength to confess again.

Spy rolled his eyes, fully aware of how she was going to finish that statement. He then looked at the boy sprawled out on the couch with drool leaking out of his gaping mouth. "Ah… and I assume you thought zat zis ingrate could help you with your love life?" He scoffed as he gestured toward Scout.

Mayfield casted her eyes down, ashamed to tell him that he was right. Spy cocked his head to the side examining the pitiful woman.

"Ha, well zat waz your first mistake." He mocked her with a laugh and blew smoke out his nose.

As Spy turned around to leave, Mayfield's head raised and her eyes glared towards the suited man.

"Alright. So **you** help me then." She stared him down from under her brow bones.

"Non." He shut her down immediately.

"Fine." This was the last time someone screwed her over, the last time she was the one being manipulated. It was her turn to pull the strings.

"… I'm sure Jeremy would love to know who his father is."

Spy stopped. He quickly spun around and scowled at Mayfield.

"Are you blackmailing me?" His head and eyebrows started to tilt down.

Mayfield clenched her teeth, unsure of what she just got herself into. "Yes."

The upper corner of Spy's mouth twitched up a bit, but he then soothed himself regaining a proper posture and presentable 'I don't care' expression. He dropped his cigarette and pulled out a new one, lighting it up as he held it in his mouth. He took a drag and blew out the smoke along with his increasing stress levels. "You are either more stupid or cunning than I zought."

Hearing this resolution took 30 pounds of weight off Mayfield's chest. She sighed. "Yeah. Well a lot of thing have happened the last time we interacted with one another."

They stood there, staring one another down.

Until there was a loud sharp gasp for air that came from the couch. The Scout shot up from his laying position as he rubbed his neck.

"Oh god! Jesus Jessie… ya got some good grip strength." He half smiled up at the woman, still rubbing his neck.

"Thanks." She flashed him a quick smile. "Scout guess who is helping us now?" Her head darted to face the Spy, and she watched in wait of every painful expression Spy was yet to show.

The boy looked to who she was referring to. "Spy? Really? Why?" Scout leaned forward in his sitting position.

Spy and Mayfield glared at one another. The suited man sighed. "I 'ad a change of heart." His teeth were gritting together.

Mayfield smiled at the man's misfortune without any guilt or shame. If she keeps up this attitude, things just might go her way.


End file.
